With Adam Scott mired in an awful slump, it appears clear he wasn’t likely the best choice for captain Greg Norman to pick. Some have suggested Norman picked Scott because of the Australian connection — but since Robert Allenby, and Geoff Ogilvy are already on the team, why was another Australian necessary?
So who should they have picked? I’d have left both Scott and Ryo Ishikawa off the team. My choices — Rory Sabbatini and Michael Sim. In my mind Sabbatini, regardless of my thoughts on his personality, is a great choice, a free-wheeling bomber who can make things happen. Sim, on the other hand, is a Nationwide Tour player who has won three times this season and T17 at the US Open. He’s a hot hand and would have been a fascinating selection. Instead we get the Japanese boy wonder, who hasn’t exactly lit things up in North America, and Scott, who has dropped off the radar since he started dating actresses.
Who would G4G readers pick? Here’s the list…
2009 PGA TOUR Presidents Cup (International)
Select Year: —- 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994
Y-T-D statistics through: PGA Championship Aug 16, 2009
Rank
This
Week Rank
Last
Week Player Events Avg Points Total Points Points lost Points gained
1 1 Geoff Ogilvy 47 5.49 257.85 -135.62 180.33
2 2 Vijay Singh 50 4.80 239.89 -190.52 64.90
3 3 Camilo Villegas 50 4.42 220.95 -120.87 97.07
4 4 Retief Goosen 57 4.13 235.29 -81.32 184.86
5 5 Ernie Els 54 3.73 201.68 -159.53 103.93
6 6 Angel Cabrera 54 3.38 182.51 -94.96 151.89
7 7 Mike Weir 50 3.33 166.47 -95.98 91.64
8 8 Robert Allenby 60 3.19 191.25 -95.01 99.55
9 36 Y.E. Yang 60 3.05 183.03 -17.96 182.45
10 9 Tim Clark 57 3.00 171.26 -84.10 99.79
11 10 Rory Sabbatini 54 2.62 141.27 -110.53 102.72
12 11 Jeev M. Singh 68 2.51 170.76 -91.74 58.58
13 12 Shingo Katayama 53 2.40 127.43 -79.49 50.07
14 13 Adam Scott 47 2.34 109.84 -111.69 50.38
15 14 Mathew Goggin 57 2.31 131.64 -56.89 63.03
16 15 Thongchai Jaidee 58 2.27 131.77 -45.45 86.55
17 16 Stephen Ames 46 2.25 103.45 -74.33 50.69
18 18 K.J. Choi 51 2.13 108.81 -138.53 48.84
19 17 Trevor Immelman 48 2.10 101.01 -97.53 18.31
20 19 Ryo Ishikawa 46 2.00 91.77 -29.22 38.09
21 20 Brendan Jones 45 1.99 89.50 -52.83 40.83
22 22 Charl Schwartzel 56 1.89 105.91 -55.50 54.09
23 21 Prayad Marksaeng 64 1.88 120.52 -71.58 47.97
24 29 Michael Sim 40 1.82 72.93 -16.10 65.96
25 23 Andres Romero 53 1.82 96.54 -92.30 39.82
A bestselling author and award-winning columnist, Robert Thompson has been writing about business and sports, and particularly golf, for almost two decades. His reporting and commentary on golf has appeared in 
One big problem of the International team is that they all live in the US and are too Americanized.
My picks would have been:
Sabatini – to get under the skin of the US players
KJ Choi – wait, the have Yang already, scratch that
Jeev M. Singh – He doesn’t get fazed by the reputation of the US players.