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Haas & Price Named as Presidents Cup Captains

by Jeff Skinner

The PGA Tour announced the captains for the 2015 Presidents Cup and three time captain Fred Couples is out, sort of.

Jay Haas was named as a first time captain for the U.S and returning for a second consecutive stint is 2013 captain Nick Price. I will say this: there aren’t two classier gentlemen in the game of golf. Both Haas’ and Price’s careers have been marked by class, sportsmanship and a total respect for the game and more significantly, their opponents and partners.

From PGA Tour.com:
Jay Haas and Nick Price will serve as captains of the U.S. and International teams, respectively, for The Presidents Cup 2015 in Songdo IBD, Incheon City, South Korea. PGA TOUR commissioner Tim Finchem made the announcement Wednesday at the inaugural Big Cedar Lodge Legends of Golf presented by Bass Pro Shops.  Price-Haas-847-Condon

Price, Captain of the International Team in 2013 and a World Golf Hall of Famer, joined Finchem for the announcement, as did Haas, a three-time U.S. Team Captain’s Assistant; both players are past Presidents Cup participants and both are competing in this week’s Champions Tour event at Top of the Rock.

Also attending the press conference to lend perspective on The Presidents Cup and support of this next chapter in the event’s history were Jack Nicklaus, a four-time U.S. Team Captain, and fellow World Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player, an International Team Captain three times. Nicklaus and Player are also in the Big Cedar Lodge Legends of Golf field. 

The Presidents Cup 2015 will be held Oct. 6-11 when the biennial competition makes its first trip to Asia. Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea will be the fourth international venue to host The Presidents Cup, joining The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (1998, 2011); The Links at Fancourt, George, South Africa (2003); and The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (2007).

Price has already hit a home run with naming Korea’s K.J. Choi and his assistant captain. Choi will be a superstar as the tournament plays out in Korea.

Haas has also announced that ex-captain, Fred Couples will return to his team as an assistant captain. Both are very good friends and I think only because the intensity level of the Presidents Cup is less than that of the Ryder Cup could that work out.

Couples ran a very hands off, low key operation as captain and at the Presidents Cup that seems to work. But the Ryder Cup is slightly different.

I can’t see a recent captain returning as an assistant so soon after they served as captain. It may cause some issues and confusion when it really comes down to the task of being the captain. There haven’t been many times when a Presidents Cup captain really had to put the hammer down on his players.

Now, Tom Watson has named a former Ryder Cup Captain as his assistant in Raymond Floyd for this year’s cup in Scotland. But Floyd is so far removed from his captaincy it will not present a problem.

If things get tight and some tough decisions need to be made having Couples as an assistant may present a bit of drama for Captain Haas. But then again Freddy is so laidback and Haas is so tight with his buddy it will most likely be two minds thinking as one. After all, this is The Presidents Cup, not the Ryder Cup…and we have fun at the Presidents Cup.

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