Blog: Players, captains meet at British Open

text size

Hello from Scotland. I'm taking over the Captain's Blog this month for Greg Norman as he prepares to compete in the Open Championship, and I wanted to share with you a few insights from the International Team's preparations.

Badz/PGA TOUR

Frank Nobilo at the 1998 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne GC in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Presidents Cup

U.S. standings
International standings
Complete coverage
Captain Norman's blog
Captain Couples' blog

It's Tuesday evening, and we've just finished a team meeting in the clubhouse at Turnberry. It is getting close to crunch time with just five more events on the schedule -- the last of which is the PGA Championship -- before 10 players earn their way automatically onto the International Team. Three weeks later, on Sept. 8, after the Deutsche Bank Championship, Captain Greg Norman will select the final two players for our team.

While I concede that the U.S. Team is strong at the top with the World's No. 1 and 2 players, the depth of our team is quite remarkable, which will pose a very difficult choice in filling out those final two spots. Then, before you know it, it will be off to Harding Park in San Francisco, Oct. 6-11, for what I believe will be a well contested Presidents Cup.

It is always difficult to get the international players together because they literally do cover the globe. Plus to expect them to get together on the eve of a major Championship is a tall ask. I was impressed with the turnout at the meeting with almost every player in the top 30 of the current Presidents Cup standings joining us. Officials involved with the International Team were also present. A couple of guys couldn't make it due to injuries that forced them out of the Open.

Jeev Milkha Singh withdrew from the Open Tuesday morning with a recurring rib injury, while Shingo Katayama has been suffering from back problems, which also kept him out of the recent U.S. Open. Trevor Immelman is still dealing with a wrist injury, which forced him out of the U.S. Open, too. J. Singh (11), Katayama (13) and Immelman (14) are all in the top 15 on the current standings.

I have heard concerns that of our current top 12, only four have victories this year -- Geoff Ogilvy (Mercedes-Benz Championship, World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship), Retief Goosen (Transitions Championship), Angel Cabrera (Masters) and Rory Sabbatini (HP Byron Nelson Championship). Eight of the top 12 on the U.S. Team standings have won this year -- six of whom have won multiple times. I am less worried about that because our players have consistently been in contention, and most are only lacking that top gear thus far.

There has also been a lot of media focus on Adam Scott's play of late, and last week's performance at the Scottish Open is an indication that he is not only on the way back, but now has a good chance to qualify for the International Team as he has moved to 12th on the standings.

I was in Minnesota last week for the Champions Tour and caught up with Jay Haas, who has the mirror role with the American Team. We joked about the fact that we have no excuses, as this will be the first time that both captains and assistants will have also been former participants in the event.

Thanks for letting me step in for this month's Captain's Blog. We're all looking forward to a great event in San Francisco in just a few short months. I hope to see you there.