I read a disturbing blog post in USA Today where Freddy C is advocating use of a captain’s pick for Tiger Woods. Don’t do it Freddy, make him play his way on the team. The competition is set for November 17-20 and between now and then, most of the top 25 American stars will be competing in the FedEx Cup playoffs. Tiger did not qualify for FedEx and is only scheduled to play the Australian Open in November. How can you consider giving a spot to a guy who’s a total mental basket case and couldn’t win his club championship right now much less compete with the best in the world? He won’t have the benefit of top competition leading up to the event.
As of this posting, here’s the top 25 qualifying spots for the U.S. Team:
Rank Player Points
1 Steve Stricker 13,783,403
2 Matt Kuchar 12,543,827
3 Phil Mickelson 11,920,047
4 Nick Watney 11,831,320
5 Dustin Johnson 10,481,897
6 Bubba Watson 9,763,499
7 David Toms 8,787,375
8 Hunter Mahan 8,624,612
9 Bill Haas 8,424,777
10 Jim Furyk 8,091,994
11 Rickie Fowler 7,479,081
12 Bo Van Pelt 7,262,583
13 Brandt Snedeker 7,138,263
14 Zach Johnson 7,079,980
15 Jason Dufner 7,055,408
16 Webb Simpson 6,924,373
17 Ryan Moore 6,899,113
18 Keegan Bradley 6,864,399
19 Mark Wilson 6,842,904
20 Jonathan Byrd 6,640,688
21 Ryan Palmer 6,500,754
22 Jeff Overton 5,921,385
23 Steve Marino 5,779,352
24 Gary Woodland 5,776,513
25 Sean O'Hair 5,599,802
There are so many players at 11-25 that are more deserving than Woods and who would benefit from the experience that it would be a shame for Couples to waste the pick. If he’s insistent, I’d require Tiger to enter some Fall Season events on the PGA Tour and make him demonstrate he’s capable of taking a roster spot from someone more deserving.
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