Race to make the teams heating up into summer

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The calendar has flipped to June, and with the summer slate of the 2009 PGA TOUR schedule set to start, competition for the coveted top 10 spots on both the U.S. and International Presidents Cup Team standings will no doubt heat up along with the weather. The Presidents Cup is scheduled for Oct. 6-11 at historic Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, Calif.

U.S. Team Captain Fred Couples held the first meeting for players in contention to make the U.S. Team last month at THE PLAYERS Championship and must have been encouraged with the results from TPC Sawgrass. Five players eligible to compete for the United States finished in the top 10, including Jim Furyk, who improved from No. 12 to No. 7 (currently eighth) with a tie for fifth, and Tiger Woods, who remained No. 2 with a tie for eighth. Furyk and Woods were joined in the top 10 by fellow Americans Kevin Na and John Mallinger, who both tied for second, and Ben Crane, who tied for fifth.

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Zach Johnson is one of the hottest American players on TOUR right now.

U.S. Team standings

The following week, Zach Johnson, vying for his second berth on a Presidents Cup team, reclaimed the FedExCup points lead and successfully defended his title at the Valero Texas Open, defeating James Driscoll on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. The victory was his second of the 2009 season (he also won the Sony Open in Hawaii) as he improved from No. 8 to No. 6 in the U.S. standings. Johnson produced a 2-2 record in his first appearance at The Presidents Cup in 2007 at Royal Montreal Golf Club.

More good news for Captain Couples and the U.S. squad came last week as Steve Stricker posted his first victory of the season at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Stricker improved three spots in the standings with the victory, moving from No. 6 to No. 3, and is well positioned to make his third Presidents Cup appearance. Including last week's victory, Stricker has six top-10s in 12 starts this year.

The International Team and Captain Greg Norman got a shot in the arm with Rory Sabbatini's "hometown" victory at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. A resident of the Dallas suburb of Southlake, Texas, Sabbatini is a native of Durban, South Africa. His win moved him from No. 15 to No. 9 in the International Presidents Cup standings. Like Johnson, Sabbatini made his Presidents Cup debut in 2007 at Royal Montreal.

Veteran players continue to dominate the International standings with Camilo Villegas (No. 3) and Jeev Milkha Singh (No. 10) the only potential first timers in the top 15. International Team stalwart Vijay Singh produced his second top-10 of the season with a tie for sixth at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and appears to be rounding into form for the summer months. He remains in second position in the standings behind Australian Geoff Ogilvy. Seasoned Presidents Cup performers Ernie Els (No. 4), Mike Weir (No. 5), Angel Cabrera (No. 6) and Retief Goosen (No. 8) round out the top 10.

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Vijay Singh has amped up his game in recent weeks after struggling to recover from knee surgery.

International Team standings

The leading six players in the standings are all from different countries -- Ogilvy (Australia), V. Singh (Fiji), Villegas (Colombia), Els (South Africa), Cabrera (Argentina) and Weir (Canada). Shingo Katayama (Japan), J. Singh (India) and K.J. Choi (South Korea) make it nine players from different countries currently represented in the top 15.

In contrast to the Internationals, the U.S. Team has six potential "rookies" in the top 15, led by Sean O'Hair at No. 5 and followed by Anthony Kim (No. 9), Nick Watney (No. 11), Brian Gay (No. 12), Dustin Johnson (No. 13) and Steve Marino (No. 15). Marino made the largest move in May, improving from No. 27 to No. 15 on the strength of a tie for 16th at the HP Byron Nelson Championship and a playoff loss at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

Though he won't be competing as a player at Harding Park, Captain Couples has been making some noise of his own on the golf course in recent weeks. He produced four rounds in the 60s at the HP Byron Nelson Championship en route to a tie for eighth. That finish was Couples' third top-10 of the season after posting ties for third at the Northern Trust Open in February and the Shell Houston Open in April.

Ten members of the 2009 U.S. Team will be selected based on official earnings from the 2007 Wyndham Championship through the 2009 PGA Championship (with money earned in 2009 counting as double), plus two Captain's selections, which will be announced on Sept. 8. Members of the 2009 International Team will be chosen on the basis of the Official World Golf Ranking through the 2009 PGA Championship, plus two Captain's selections, also announced Sept. 8. The International Team does not include players eligible for the European Ryder Cup Team.

This year marks the first time in The Presidents Cup history that both captains (Couples and Norman) and their captains' assistants (Jay Haas, U.S. Team; Frank Nobilo, International Team) are former participants in The Presidents Cup.

For tickets to the event, visit PresidentsCup.com or call 877-PREZ-TIX (773-9849). For corporate entertainment options, please call 415-566-7287.

The Presidents Cup, a team match play competition featuring 24 of the world's top golfers -- 12 from the United States and 12 from around the world, excluding Europe -- is held every two years, and since 1996 has alternated between United States and international venues. The Presidents Cup was developed to give the world's best non-European players an opportunity to compete in international team match-play competition. The U.S. Team has won five of the seven previous Presidents Cups, and the only outright win by the International Team came at the 1998 event in Melbourne. The 2003 Presidents Cup ended in a tie.