Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - How can you not love Greg Norman?
When he wasn't breaking your heart as a player, you always admired him. He went for things with full gusto and accepted the inevitable defeat like a man. No blaming anyone else, it was all Norman.
He might have to face full responsibility for his decisions one last time.
On Tuesday, Norman, the International Presidents Cup captain, and Fred Couples, his American counterpart, made their picks to finalize their respective teams.
Couples had it easy. He went with the reigning U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan, who finished 13th in the points standing when the top 10 automatically qualified, but didn't hurt either Jack Nicklaus or Paul Azinger when those gentlemen brought him onto their teams.
Couples left off a guy in Heath Slocum who won two weeks ago. He didn't bring Brian Gay and all he did was win twice this year. Scott Verplank finished second at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday and with several Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup appearances, still didn't warrant a choice over the two fellas Freddie took.
But as Couples pegged Chalk Chalkerson, Norman didn't have that luxury. All of Norman's major winners made his team on points (Angel Cabrera at the Masters and Y.E. Yang at the PGA).
Norman didn't have such easy decisions ahead of him. When Yang captured the PGA Championship, he knocked Rory Sabbatini off the automatic qualifiers.
Norman had a pool of talent like Sabbatini, K.J. Choi and Jeev Milkha Singh to pick from. No offense, but not exactly guys that would cause the Americans shivers.
So, Norman went outside the box.
He took 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa and Adam Scott.
It's easy to scoff these picks. Ishikawa has no experience in anything like this and toils primarily in Japan. As for Scott, well he's missed more cuts than he's made this year.
We'll call this high risk/high reward.
Ishikawa may toil primarily in Japan, but you could swap the word "toil" with "win." He's got four victories on the Japan Golf Tour, including three this year and one last week.
Granted, he's got no Presidents Cup experience, but Ishikawa has gone through plenty. When he plays in the U.S., he's greeted by more photographers than Lindsay Lohan trying to break into her girlfriend's house. It's like a real live Jonas Brother is on the tee.
It's not uncommon for there to be 50 media members following Ishikawa in a round. That's Tiger-esque. With so much demand for his time and interest in his career, Ishikawa has been through enough for Norman to believe he could handle this pressure.
(Plus, Ishikawa played the first two rounds of the British Open with Tiger Woods this year and lost by only a stroke. Of course, both missed the cut, but for one day, Ishikawa was better when the two played together.)
Now for Scott.
He's missed 10 cuts out of 18 starts on the PGA Tour this year. He looks clueless. No one is totally sure why but I blame Kate Hudson. After pictures surfaced of the two, he's never been the same.
While it's a tad naive to think Scott's problems are the fault of Penny Lane, whatever it is, it's bad for Scott. The Aussie (more on that later) has played in the three previous Presidents Cups and has a winning record, so there's a small argument to be made.
Granted, Scott has been terrible, but if there's someone to bring him out of it, it's Norman. Scott idolized Norman as a kid and Norman has always been a source of guidance for Scott.
If you want to call it fishy that Norman brought a fellow Australian who he has mentored when Scott is woefully unqualified for the team, I couldn't disagree.
But does Rory Sabbatini really put the Internationals in a better position to win? Does Choi, who's struggled as badly as Scott has?
Norman had few options. Correction. He had few good options. Again, maybe playing for his hero triggers something in Scott. Maybe this event will bring back his swing. It happened to Mike Weir in 2007 and he beat Tiger in singles. You can sit Scott some in this competition, so essentially you might need just 36 strong holes from him.
Norman had an impossible task and he took a big-time shot. If nothing else, he drummed up serious interest in this event in Japan, which is not something to take lightly.
He took a big-time chance that might pay off for him huge. Sounds exactly like his playing career.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
- Don't know what to make of Tiger Woods' comments about Ernie Els not working hard enough after Els' knee surgery. It's very out of character for Woods to badmouth someone else, especially someone he likes by all accounts. Maybe Els hates the gym and it's a well-known joke on the tour. Wish this was explained more. If this was just Tiger being honest, well then shame on him. It's not his place to say how hard Ernie can work. Maybe Els slacked some, but maybe he doesn't want to be in the gym so much. He has an autistic son and Els has become a passionate crusader on the subject. The whole situation is very odd.
- Steve Stricker is now second in the World Rankings and leads the FedEx Cup points list. Think for a second how low he fell in the golf world that he won Comeback Player of the Year two years in a row. If he ran the table for the last two Playoff events, I'd consider giving him Player of the Year. Stricker needs to contend in some majors soon though.
- This week's movie question revolves around my favorite 80s movie, "Can't Buy Me Love." You know, the one where the geeky kid rents the popular girl. How about this for the times they're a changing? Remember at the end when Ronald Miller confronts the baseball player who's about to beat the crap out of the other dork for being on their side of the cafeteria? Ronald breaks it up when he slams a bat on the table. If you see it again, and you should, there's a teacher who gestures to another teacher, let it go and don't get involved. Really? One kid is wielding a bat at another kid and this science teacher had the foresight to know Ronald was going to give a speech about the silliness of cliques? In 2009, Ronald Miller's trial is on CNN and he's in jail for seven years minimum. And those two teachers who did nothing, well they're under arrest, too. Back then, a bat just got you a larger forum.
