Presidents Cup teams finalized; Weir makes International team

Golf News

Aug 13, 2007, 15:00 GMT

Montreal, QC - Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player finalized their respective Presidents Cup teams Monday morning and Player made the biggest splash with one of his selections.Mike Weir, a Canadian, who was only 20th in the standings, got the nod from Player for the event in his home country. The Presidents Cup will be staged at The Royal Montreal Golf Club.Nick O'Hern, a match-play specialist who defeated Tiger Woods twice in the Accenture Match Play Championship, was the other International pick.Nicklaus took Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan to round out his squad.The Weir pick was a bit shocking considering he withdrew from the WGC- Bridgestone Invitational with a neck injury two weeks ago. Player stated for months that Weir would have to play quality golf to be on the team and would not be pegged just for being Canadian.Weir, who has played in the last three Presidents Cups, has two top 10s all year, including a tie for eighth at the British Open Championship. He missed the cut Friday at the PGA Championship, but Player still took the former Masters champion.'Being played in Canada, if we didn't have a Canadian on my team, in my opinion, the series would be quite flat,' said Player. 'Mike is a hero in his country and I'm sure the Canadian people are going to be relieved.'The U.S. team will be led by PGA champion Woods, who is making his fifth appearance at the event.Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson, Masters champion Zach Johnson, Charles Howell III, Scott Verplank, David Toms, Steve Stricker and Stewart Cink rounded out spots two through nine.Woody Austin, the surprising runner-up to Woods at Southern Hills, vaulted up from 18th before the week to 10th. He earned the final automatic spot and, along with Johnson, are the only rookies in the top-10 list.For the International team, Ernie Els finished first in points. He missed the 2005 event due to his knee injury, but with a third-place finish at Southern Hills, the three-time major winner could be poised for a big impact.Adam Scott, Vijay Singh and 2006 U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy anchor Player's International team. K.J. Choi, Rory Sabbatini, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera and Stuart Appleby completed the squad.Appleby bumped Andres Romero off the list at the PGA Championship.Glover was 10th for most of the summer, but got bumped when Austin took second at the PGA Championship.Mahan, who finished 14th on the list, earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Travelers Championship in June. He has not finished outside the top 22 since late May.Neither of Nicklaus' picks have any international team competition experience.'I had to think about whether I wanted experience or youth,' said Nicklaus. 'Unfortunately, my experience wasn't playing well. The only way guys get experience is to play.'Nicklaus may have been referring to Chris DiMarco, the man who clinched the Presidents Cup for the U.S. in 2005. DiMarco finished 26th on the final standings.O'Hern played in the 2005 Presidents Cup and went 2-3, including a 4 & 3 loss to Davis Love in the singles. That same year, O'Hern toppled Woods in the second round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. This year, O'Hern needed 20 holes to best Woods in the third round.'I'd love another crack at Tiger,' said O'Hern. 'I think everyone would love that challenge.'Player's toughest decision might have been to leave off Romero. He fell from 10th this week after an amazing run this summer, which included a near win at the British Open, a victory at the Players Championship of Europe and tie for sixth at Firestone.'A lot of consideration,' said Player, in reference to how much he looked at the relatively inexperienced Romero. 'I gave him a lot of thought because I like to pick guys on the up.'The Presidents Cup is scheduled for September, 28-30.© 2007 The Sports Network

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