Three Koreans part of Presidents Cup team


LEMONT, Illinois (AFP) ― Internationals captain Greg Norman was confident and excited about the 10 players who have automatically qualified for his squad in November’s Presidents Cup showdown against the United States.

Golf’s global stars from outside Europe will face the American trophy holders from Nov. 17-20 at Australia’s Royal Melbourne Golf Club, site of the only Internationals triumph in the rivalry back in 1998.

“I think the guys are as inspired as we were in 1998,” Norman said Monday. “What it did for the Presidents Cup was huge. A victory now would be huge again for the Presidents Cup if we did it.”

Norman’s lineup, based on world rankings, includes U.S. Open and Masters runner-up Jason Day, ranked seventh, and world No. 10 Adam Scott, who shared second at the Masters with Australian compatriot Day.

Together with Geoff Ogilvy, who fought his way into the lineup with a third-place showing in last week’s BMW Championship, there will be at least three Aussies in the lineup, all of whom know Royal Melbourne well.

“We’ve got the three linchpins of Australian golf in there,” Norman said.

“Geoff’s move was a positive one. He took a lot of pressure off me in a lot of ways. He said it’s the first time in a while he’s feeling great. His golf game is coming around.”

The Internationals will also include South Koreans Choi Kyung-ju, Yang Yong-eun and Kim Kyung-tae, South Africans Charl Schwartzel, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen and Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa.

“We have an extremely balanced team,” Norman said. “Some of the players have played really well. Most of my guys are (in great form) right now. They are not going to lose that before November.”

Ishikawa, the lowest-ranked member of the team at 47th, still rates two spots ahead of Tiger Woods, already named as a captain’s choice by Norman’s American counterpart, Fred Couples.

“There are some logical pairings,” Norman said. “We all see the natural bit of the ways these players have been playing and their personalities.”