Fred Couples will likely look for any reason to have Tiger Woods on his team.
It was easy to be swayed by whatever you read. Check out Randell Mell's argument for taking Woods on golfchannel.com, and by the end of it you find yourself nodding in agreement. How could Couples not pick an active player who will likely own twice as many major championship titles as the rest of the team put together, especially if his recent injury worries are behind him and he uses what time he has between now and September 26th convincing Couples and the rest of the world his swing is improving all the time and, more importantly, he really wants to play? And might he not form an intimidating partnership once again with Steve Stricker, his wing-man in 2009 at Harding Park where the pair won all four of their foursome and fourball matches, and at Celtic Manor in last year's Ryder Cup when they won their first two matches, albeit with Stricker carrying most of the burden?
But then, after reading Rex Hoggard's rebuttal, you come to your senses. What? Tiger Woods in the Presidents Cup team? Are you insane? He's 28th in the standings right now, just missed the cut in the season's final major by six shots, didn't qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs, is 86th in the PGA Tour's Actual Scoring Average statistical category with 71.05, is hitting less than 50% of fairways, is 170th in sand saves, 190th in total driving, and 108th on the money list.
There is no right or wrong, of course, and we still won't know if Couples made the right decision after the event which takes place at Royal Melbourne from November 17th to the 20th. If he plays and the US wins, Woods's inclusion will no doubt be considered a stroke of genius. Lose and it will be Woods's fault and Couples was foolish for taking him. Then, if Couples chooses to leave him out and his team loses, he will forever wonder if Woods might have made any difference (well, this is Fred Couples, so he may well have gotten over it by breakfast Monday).
Among the 18 names between Rickie Fowler in 11th position in the current standings and Woods, there are at least eight maybe nine players who definitely deserve a pick ahead of the former world number one. They've played more and finished in the top ten regularly. Six of them; Brandt Snedeker, Mark Wilson, Jonathan Byrd, Gary Woodland, Sean O'Hair, and Keegan Bradley have actually won this year while two of them; Wilson and Bradley, have won twice.
Thing is, if the Presidents Cup is tied at 11 points apiece on Saturday evening, and every one of the Sunday singles is therefore crucial, would you want Woods on your side, or Wilson, or Snedeker, or Woodland, or Bryd, or...
Put it like that and the case for including Woods becomes quite compelling.
And you can be sure Tim Finchem will be hoping Couples sees it that way. If Woods does play, this will almost certainly be the most watched Presidents Cup in its 17-year history, and if not the most watched (have you seen the TV schedule - the Golf Channel has it live on Thursday, from 9pm to 2am! and NBC's coverage the final three days is tape-delayed!!) then the most anticipated and scrutinized.
Without Woods on the team, the event is likely to arouse as much interest in the US as the Reno-Tahoe Open, maybe less. So it isn't difficult to imagine Finchem, who heads the organization that owns and organizes the tournament, having a quiet word in Couples's ear. No one but Finchem and Couples will ever know if that conversation takes place of course unless, perhaps, Couples spills the beans in his biography 15 years from now.
As a European, I'm not terribly concerned about what Couples decides, but as a golf fan I think I'd rather he left Woods out. Like most people reading this I'm sure, I love watching Tiger Woods play brilliant golf. But I really don't enjoy watching him pout, cuss, hurl clubs over gallery ropes (2009 Australian Masters), ignore kids seeking autographs, or give the press meaningless answers to legitimate questions. If he plays, I fear the whole event becomes about him. And that's just wrong.
