O'Neill: Captains finalize President's Cup rosters

The President’s Cup lineup was completed on Monday afternoon, with both Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player announcing at-large picks to fill out their teams.

Nicklaus, the U.S. captain, added Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan to the U.S. squad. Both will be playing in their first President’s Cup. For his International Team roster, Player added Australian Nick O’Hern and, appropriately enough, Canadian Mike Weir.

The seventh Presidents Cup is scheduled for Sept. 27-30 at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Weir will be playing for the fourth time, while O’Hern will make his second appearance.

And go figure. Monday was International Lefthanders Day — both O’Hern and Weir are lefties.
 
The top-10 international players (excluding those eligible for the European Ryder Cup Team) from the Official World Golf Ranking, after the conclusion of the PGA Championship, automatically made the International squad. The top-10 U.S. players who earned the most official PGA Tour money from Aug. 15, 2005, through the PGA Championship (with 2007 money counting double) automatically made the U.S. Team.

The Internationals will boast 10 players in the top 25 of the world rankings, while the U.S. team has eight players in the top 25.

Among those to slip in at the wire was Woody Austin, whose second-place showing at the PGA won him a spot on the U.S. team. He jumped from 18th in the standings to 10th with the performance.

Austin was tickled to find out he made the team in his post-round interview on Sunday at Southern Hills. “Well that makes me real happy because I’ve always wanted to be in one of those things,” Austin said. “I think my personality suits that kind of competition.”

In fact, Austin believes he and Tiger Woods have a lot in common when it comes to approach. And for that reason, he looks forward to the match-play format.

“I’d like to think that my personality is a lot like Tiger’s, very out there, very emotional,” Austin said. “And I think that in that format, in a team format, in a two-man or one-on-one (format), I like the idea.

“I like the competition. I like the one-on-one, look-you-in-the-eye (competition), as opposed to coming out at 8 a.m. and the other guy comes out at 3 o’clock. I like looking right at you when I’m playing you and I think that’s going to be a lot of fun.”

WOODY’S WORLD
Austin was disappointed on Saturday at Southern Hills, when he made a late bogey and Stephen Ames made a birdie that put Ames in the final pairing on Sunday with Woods. Austin does not fear the reaper, and he explained why.

“Why would I want to be somewhere else,” said the 43-year old Austin. “I want to be there just as much as he does. I don’t get why you would want to not be there or be, as you say … intimidated by (Woods). I don’t get that either.

“What, are we going to fight? Are we going to get into a fight? Why should I be intimidated? I’m intimidated by the fact that I have a chance to win a golf tournament. I’m not intimidated by another person, I’m intimidated by the golf.”

TIGER TALK
With 13 major championships, Woods is now five majors removed from Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors. Nothing is certain, of course, but if he stays healthy it is easy to project Woods catching or passing Nicklaus as soon as 2010.

Consider: Woods has won the Masters four times in 11 professional starts — he will return to Augusta on an annual basis.

The 2008 U.S. Open is at Torrey Pines Golf Club, where Woods has won four times in 11 Buick Invitational starts. The 2009 U.S. Open is at Bethpage State Park, where Woods was the only player to finish under par while winning the 2002 U.S. Open.

Shall we go on?

The 2010 U.S. Open is at Pebble Beach Golf Links, where Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open in record fashion, shooting 19-under par and beating the field by 8 strokes. He also has won the AT&T Pebble Beach there.

A month later, the 2010 British Open will be at St. Andrews, where Woods won in a record-breaking manner in 2000 and where he has won two of his three British Open titles.

Nicklaus won his 13th and 14th majors at the age of 35 in 1975. Woods has his 13 majors in slightly more than 11 professional seasons at the age of 31. He could have 18 or more by the time he is 35.

LAST LAP
This is the final week to qualify for the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedExCup and all the bubble boys are in Greensboro.

Marco Dawson currently holds down the 144th and final spot, but he’s only 102 points ahead of No. 145 Eric Axley. All 11 players between 140th place (Michael Putnam) and 150th (Mathias Gronberg) are entered this week, while just 273 points separate them.

By the way, 22nd place at the Wyndham Championship is worth 280 points.

DOCTOR’S ORDERS
In nine starts at the JELD-WEN Tradition, Gil Morgan has won twice, finished in the top-10 five times and never carded a round higher than par. In 26 rounds at the event, Morgan has been in the 60s 18 times and is 24 under-par.

ALL HALE
If Hale Irwin wins this week, he would tie Jack Nicklaus for the most senior major championship titles in a career — eight. He would also join Nicklaus as the only players to win four different senior major championships.

SMALL BUT MIGHTY
The Nationwide Tour Xerox Classic will be staged at Irondequoit Country Club this week. It is one of the shortest courses on the tour at 6,720 yards. However, Irondequoit played as the eighth most difficult course on the Nationwide Tour last year, or 1.063 strokes over par.

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