1. Presidents Cup captain’s picks on the way
Golfweek’s Adam Woodard on who captain Woods should select (he picks tomorrow), and Brooks Koepka adding a wrinkle to the process…”There’s a legitimate case to be made for a handful of players, and earlier this week my colleague Steve DiMeglio put himself in Woods’ shoes and made the following four selections: Woods, Gary Woodland, Patrick Reed and Tony Finau. That leaves newlywed Rickie Fowler, who has made two Presidents Cup appearances with a 4-3-1 record, riding the pine pony.”
- “But, Woods may have to make a fifth pick if Brooks Koepka can’t play. Koepka aggravated a left knee injury last month at the CJ Cup and withdrew after two rounds in Korea, then decided not to play last week’s WGC-HSBC Champions. DiMeglio argued in favor of Fowler taking Koepka’s place if the world No. 1 doesn’t go, but what about a player named Kevin? There are two who deserve consideration.”
Full piece.
2. And on the International side…
Golf Channel’s Will Gray breaks down the contenders…
The Lock…“Jason Day: The former world No. 1 barely missed out on qualifying automatically, and he has played in every Presidents Cup dating back to 2011. Day is a logical selection with the matches taking place in his native Australia, and with four rookies already on the team his veteran leadership will be an asset in the team room. Although he only has one top-10 finish since the Masters, he’s as close to a slam-dunk pick as you can find.”
- The Contenders…“Sungjae Im: At No. 34 in the world, Im is behind only Day among International players not already qualified for Els’ squad. While he has yet to win on the PGA Tour, his consistent 2019 rookie season led to a Tour Championship berth and Rookie of the Year honors. He hasn’t slowed down since, finishing T-3 in Japan and T-11 in China over the last two weeks. At age 21, he has all the makings of an International stalwart for years to come.”
- “Byeong-Hun An: Few players had a more successful Asian Swing on the PGA Tour than An, who finished T-14 or better each of the last three weeks. Throw in a third-place showing at Sanderson Farms and he already has four top-15 results in the early part of the new Tour season. While An has yet to win in the U.S., he did take home the European Tour’s flagship event in 2015 and his match-play bona fides include a U.S. Amateur win back in 2009.”
Full piece for the rest.
3. Surgery for Daly
Golf Digest’s Joel Beall with the report on JD’s knee replacement…”At this year’s A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, Daly confirmed he has bi-compartmental degenerative arthritis in his right knee, a condition that requires a knee replacement. “The doctor says it’s got to be done,” Daly said.”
- “On Tuesday, Daly underwent surgery on the troubled limb in Little Rock, Ark.”
Full piece.
4. Speaketh Rory
Our Gianni Magliocco…”On Tiger Woods’ recent win at the Zozo Championship, McIlroy expressed his surprise at how Woods was able to win the event after seeing his game up-close at the Japan Skins match the previous Monday and also heaped praise on the 15-time major champion’s victory.”
- “Not at all (on if he saw Woods’ Zozo victory coming). Look we were all a little tired, we had just gotten there, but I did not, I didn’t see it. I mean, look, he’s Tiger Woods and everything, and he does things that other people just can’t do, but from what I saw on the Monday, I didn’t think that his game looked sharp enough to contend.”
- “Whatever he did, he got it together for a few days, and that was some performance. I mean to play that good on that golf course, that was a pretty tough golf course. So to have control of his ball like that and to shoot -19, and win pretty easily in the end was awfully impressive.”
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underachiever
Nov 6, 2019 at 3:46 pm
There go Daly’s chances of being picked for the Presidents Cup