Golfweek: Phil For The Prez Cup? Really?

Let's face it: the Presidents Cup is just not a compelling competition. Initially an attempt by Tim Finchem to milk some more profits in the wake of the Ryder Cup, the matches have had some nice moments (Royal Montreal and Melbourne), but lacks much sizzle when the venues are lacking (like, now and in the foreseeable future). Short of bringing back stymies or going to magnificent courses, there is no real reason to get interested in the biennial competition as it heads to Korea this year.

Yet the captains did their best to make it compelling Tuesday with edgy selections, notably Nick Price picking soon-to-be-exiled-to-military-serviceman and rising star Sangmoon Bae, who gets to play in his native South Korea (assuming some crazy General doesn't intervene!).

On the U.S. side, Jay Haas and son Bill said all the right things in explaining the very justifiable captain's pick by father of son.

But the pick of the day that generated the most social media vitriol: Phil Mickelson by Haas as America's second option over names like Holmes, Snedeker, Horschel.

Golfweek's Jeff Babineau is perplexed by the Mickelson captain's pick.

Forgetting about the Gleneagles mutiny he helped to lead in one of the more bizarre post-event pressers of all time, Phil has been a model ambassador on Tour, the kind of guy who shows up to some city, smiles a bunch and signs as many autographs as any three other players combined.

Hey, wives are a big part of the team events, don’t forget, and in Amy Mickelson, Team USA gets a modern-day Barbara Nicklaus. Friendly, genuine, highly popular. The real deal.

But what does the U.S. get in adding Phil the player, the one who stands before us today at 45? Well … that’s the painful part, the part in which the needle screeches across the vinyl, and where everything grinds to an awkward halt. Sadly, performance-wise, elevating Mickelson onto the Presidents Cup team makes no real sense.

Since walking off the green with his fifth major – and first Claret Jug – in the summer of 2013, Mickelson has pretty much been an invisible man as a competitor. As much as he has tried to fire up the engine the last two years, losing weight, getting fit, pounding balls … the motor just hasn’t turned over. He hasn’t won in 26 months. That’s quite a spell. In 39 starts over two seasons, he has contended two times, albeit in majors.

Update on 2015-09-09 15:27 by Geoff

**Bob Harig couldn't make the case for Phil on his play, and wonders if this was a celebratory selection or something else.

Or maybe it's something more, a bit behind the scenes, inside the team room, so to speak.

Could Mickelson's pick to be part of the U.S. Presidents Cup team be a form of validation, a nod to what Lefty did last September at Gleneagles, when he shockingly spoke his mind and questioned the captaincy of Tom Watson, as well as the direction the PGA of America was going as it related to the Ryder Cup?

Mickelson took plenty of grief in the aftermath of that entire episode, but you didn't hear much, if anything, from those who were there as the Americans suffered another defeat at the hands of Europe, a third straight, and sixth out of the past seven.

Poll: Should Haas Pick Haas For The Presidents Cup Team?

There have been a few suggestions of nepotism should Bill Haas, after a closing 72 at the Deutsche Bank will be just outside the 10 automatic spots for the Presidents Cup, be one of dad Jay's two Captain's picks.

Randall Mell presented all of the scenarios before Monday's final round. The situation is certainly an intriguing one.

Knowing how much the family loves sports, it was no surprise Bill was almost distraught after his round Monday. But unless there is pressure to add a veteran star, it's hard to see how Jay does not pick Bill.

Or does it look bad?

What say you? You get two votes...

Who would be your two Presidents Cup picks?

Bill Haas

J.B. Holmes

Brandt Snedeker

Billy Horschel

Brooks Koepka

Phil Mickelson

Tiger Woods

 

pollcode.com free polls

Correction: Koepka Did Earn Presidents Cup Points

I know how the Presidents Cup dynamics are constantly in your hearts and minds so it is with my deepest apologies for passing along incorrect information. It regards Brooks Koepka's non-member days not counting toward his Presidents Cup standing. I regret not having fact checked the blog post I linked to.

In fact, Koepka is credited with Presidents Cup points dating back to start of the qualifying period, the 2013 BMW Championship. 

However, I do stand by the rest of my views that the PGA Tour needs to reconsider how it treats "non-members" who make the playoffs but don't make the playoffs, and consider the long term ramifications on college golf if there is a view that players can't finish the school year without harming chances of making the playoffs of either tour. (WGC winner Shane Lowry could have been part of the venting too, but I'm more concerned by the route from elite college player to tour.)

Tiger Runs "Out Of Gas" & Schedules Only Get Worse From Here!

It was a pretty shocking admission for physical specimen Tiger Woods to say his Tour Championship second round fell apart because he "just ran out of gas" and calling the ResetCup series of events (even with a week off) "a long grind." (Mark Lamport-Stokes reports.)

And guess what? The 2013-14 season starts in three weeks and next year's playoffs do not include a week off. But there is a week after the playoffs so you can rest for the Ryder Cup in Scotland.

In 2015 the Presidents Cup, presumably soon after the FedExCup, will be in Korea on the moundiest looking course you'll ever see.

And do we even want to talk about the mess that is 2016? Ewan Murray did in assessing (and agreeing) with Woods' complaint about fatigue.

Woods was right to point to a condensed schedule from the Open Championship to this, the climax of the FedEx play-off events. He also predicted that matters will become even more hectic in 2016, when golf returns to the Olympic Games in Rio.

It's going to be fascinating to watch the stars getting older while Commissioner Blankfein's vision for non-stop golf plays out.

Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea And Its Mounds Land '15 Prez Cup

Look at those mounds! And that width!

The description from the press release announcing the 2015 Presidents Cup venue selected by the PGA Tour:

Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea features a par-72, 7,413-yard Signature Golf Course designed by the Golden Bear, and offers world-class amenities, including an award-winning, 60,000-square-foot clubhouse. For The Presidents Cup 2015, the course has undergone some minor renovations and the holes rerouted to accommodate hospitality and the match-play format. Songdo IBD is a joint undertaking by Gale International, POSCO E&C, and Incheon City and a model of international collaboration. Songdo IBD is globally recognized as the world’s foremost smart, sustainable city-scale development. In 2012, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) selected a site in Songdo as the home for the GCF Secretariat.  It is believed that many of the sustainable infrastructure and technological innovations being pioneered in Songdo will be applied to GCF-funded projects in developing nations.