Tiger Woods has named Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, Gary Woodland and himself as captain’s picks for the 13th Presidents Cup at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club on December 13-15.
The Presidents Cup will return to Melbourne, Australia and The Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the third time when the International Team, led by captain Ernie Els, will take on the US Team, led by captain Woods.
For the first time in Presidents Cup history, each captain makes four captain’s picks instead of two. With these picks, the U.S. Team has 21 previous Presidents Cup appearances amongst its members with five players making their Presidents Cup debuts including Finau and Woodland.
Woods (finished No. 13 in the U.S. Team standings) will become the Presidents Cup’s second-ever playing captain (Hale Irwin, 1994) and make his ninth career Presidents Cup appearance. Woods has a Presidents Cup record of 24-15-1 since his first appearance on the 1998 U.S. Team, and he is one of five players to earn a perfect 5-0-0 record during a single event (2009).
His 24 matches won ranks second all-time to Phil Mickelson’s 26 and his six victories in singles matches are the most in the event’s history. Woods also holed the winning putt for the U.S. Team in 2009, 2011 (at Royal Melbourne) and 2013 – the only player to clinch the Cup three times.
“As captain, I’m going to choose Tiger Woods as the last player on the team,” Woods said. “He’s made, what, nine Cups and he’s played in Australia twice in the Presidents Cup, so this will be his third appearance as a player. It’s going to be difficult, but also I have three amazing assistants with Fred, Strick and Zach, and that helps a lot, two guys that have won Presidents Cups and one will be a future captain along the line in the near future. Three great minds that will help me when I’m playing.
