| FINAL SHOT
Nick Price Paul Prendergast talks to the Zimbabwean, a three-time Major winner who takes over from Greg Norman as captain of the International Team at the Presidents Cup, which will be played this October at the Jack Nicklaus-founded Muirfield Village in Ohio. . Price, who won back-to-back Majors in 1994 at The Open and US PGA, knows his International Team will start as the underdogs
“Shigeki Maruyama was one of the most enthusiastic guys I’ve ever played with on a team. In 1998 at Royal Melbourne, he was full of enthusiasm and has a bubbly, effervescence about him. He was so excited when I phoned and asked him to be one of my assistants.” Was the captaincy of the International Team something that you had sought or hoped would come your way? I figured my time might come one day after Greg had done his time. I didn’t know if Greg would get a third term or not. You hope you get the call, nothing’s ever written in stone but obviously I was very pleased when I was called.
AFP
Following the announcement, how soon did you decide that you’d bring in Mark McNulty and Tony Johnstone as your assistants? They gave me about eight weeks to think about who my assistants would be but I basically knew I was going to choose Mark and Tony from the get go. These are two guys I grew up with and played so much competitive golf, both with and against. Both are crafty and dogged match players who I played against 70
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in amateur golf and then with them in the old Dunhill Cup. Apart from being two of my closest friends, they are totally different players and characters. Mark is very calm, collected and methodical while Tony is more of a funny and highly motivating person. So, I have two guys at opposite ends of the spectrum, which is what you need. My third pick was [Shigeki] Maruyama because of the dynamic of our team. We’ll likely to include four or five Japanese and Korean players. I really thought he would help me with any cultural barrier if there was any, but also he was one of the most enthusiastic guys I’ve ever played with on a team. In 1998 at Royal Melbourne, he was full of enthusiasm and has a bubbly, effervescence about him. He was so excited when I phoned and asked him. He was over the moon, so I think it’s a nice mix and everyone complements each other. I’ve been talking to the boys to see what ideas they have and how we might improve our chances of winning the Cup back. How do you plan to be in touch with the players throughout the months ahead given they play all over the world, and not on just the one Tour? One of the things I want to ask the boys when they start to come together at some of the WGC events next year is to play more practice rounds together, to start to get more familiar with each other so that everyone knows each other when we get together at the Cup. I’m going to spend some more time out on the road next year to hear what they have to say, what they’re feeling. I don’t want to overor under-captain, I just want to do the right CONTINUED ON PAGE 67 HKGOLFER.COM
“I like it when players come to me and say “I want to play with so and so”, but sometimes you don’t want two buddies playing together. Sometimes you want the guys feeling a little nervous playing with each other because it keeps them on their toes.” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 70
amount so that the guys are inspired and keen to compete. Talking to some of the players from last time, the way some of the schedules worked out, some of the guys couldn’t arrive till late and they said they only really started to gel on the Saturday which by then, might have been too late. We want to try to avoid those things in 2013 and I’d like the boys to be able to play the same tournament here in the US the week before so they have only a short way to come.
The Zimbabwean shares a laugh with fellow Presidents Cup teammates Carlos Franco, Vijay Singh and Refief Goosen in 2000, which was won by the United States in comprehensive fashion at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia HKGOLFER.COM
How far out do you talk to the players to let them know they’re on the radar for selection; or do you let them go for a while and let the results pan out? Anyone that potentially can make the team, I’m going to go and talk to. I’m going to try to encourage the guys that are outside the top 12 [the top 10 qualify automatically] to show some form because I only get two picks. Let’s say, for example, a guy is 50th or 60th in the world rankings and has a really good year ... I’m going to want the form players.
If there are two guys that come into the frame and are outperforming my two guys ranked 11 and 12, I will certainly choose them. I’m going to have to compare my number 11 and 12 players off the list with other guys below them to see who is playing the best over the past year or in the three or four month period before the Cup. I want the best players that I can possibly put out there. I want it [the Cup] to be a close one, to come down to the last match on Sunday and have the people sitting on the edge of their seats like they were at the Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup was unbelievable theatre; it’s like watching 24 guys trying to win a Major because every point is so important. Getting some support on the ground at Muirfield Village, maybe an avalanche of Canadian fans, would be pretty exciting and important to your team’s chances? The Ryder Cup has gone off on a tangent; you would never have thought in the past that it would get to be so heavily supported. I remember back in 1999 at Brookline, the American fans going off at Monty [Colin Montgomerie] and giving him plenty. I thought some of that was tacky but then some of the Americans going over to Europe have been on the receiving end of some really bad, uncalled for comments from the Europeans fans too. It’s fine to get passionate about something but you don’t have to get personal. I think the American fans are full of respect and admiration for the international players that play over there HK Golfer・JAN 2013
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AFP
Price hoists the Wanamaker Trophy (above) in 1992 after winning the US PGA Championship for the first time; his predecessor Greg Norman (opposite) captained the Internationals on two occasions, losing both matches
full-time because there are so many of them. A lot of my team will likely come from players who play on the US Tour, so I think we’ll have plenty of support. I remember seeing Greg Norman waving his arms at Royal Melbourne at one point trying to get the crowds to make more noise. Australians must be too polite! [Laughing] I don’t think I’ve ever heard an Aussie say that Australians are too polite! Seriously though, there will be a lot of people who live in the US, from Australia, South Africa and Asia who will be behind us. A lot of people have already come out of the woodwork to ask about tickets and have been letting me know they will be there. I think we’ll be well represented at Muirfield Village, I really do. I think there will be a lot
coming down from Canada and from across the US and overseas. In 2011, Norman’s team went in with high hopes but were maybe a little shy on experience; and the experienced guys that were there weren’t in peak form. Els, Goosen and Allenby weren’t setting the world on fire and KT Kim, Baddeley, Day and even Charl Schwartzel were rookies. How do you see the balance of your own team? The way I see it, there are two things that work against us and I’ve been trying to figure them out. The first thing is that the US Team for next year is not going to be a whole lot different from the one we just saw at the Ryder Cup. That’s a good thing because we know they’re beatable; they just got beaten by Europe so they’re not infallible. The difficult thing for us is they will know their pairings better than we will know our pairings, who will play with who, so that’s a huge issue. There’s no doubt they’ll have Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson together, for example, the way they played at the Ryder Cup. We don’t really know who will play with who but that’s one of the things I need to try to work out over the next four or five months. I like it when players come to me and say “I want to play with so and so”, but sometimes you don’t want two buddies playing together. Sometimes you want the guys feeling a little nervous playing with each other because it keeps them on their toes. There are so many different permutations to this and these are the things I need to figure out. There are some exciting prospects who have emerged this year. Branden Grace and Hiroyuki Fujita have had great years in Europe and Japan, Bae Sang-moon is a talent and John Senden is a model of consistency who just missed out on the team in 2011. Exactly. Unfortunately, a lot of the guys you would think would be key members haven’t played well this year. Louis [Oosthuizen] has played well, Adam [Scott] has played well, Ernie [Els] has had a good year but then you start getting down to people like Charl Schwartzel. Charl’s played poorly by his standards this year, so has Geoff Ogilvy. KJ [Choi] has been hot and cold and Jason [Day] hasn’t had a very strong year – I’m sure he’d be the first to admit that after what he did in 2011. I’m sure three or four of those guys are going to play well over the next few months which will be important as I would like to have the majority of our players having played at least one Presidents Cup. I don’t want half the team to be rookies, although their enthusiasm is always great and I don’t want to put that in a negative light I think I really need eight ‘veterans’. You can deal with four rookies but to deal with six would
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be really hard. I don’t want to pre-empt what I might do but if I have a high percentage of rookies that are going to make the team, I may have to look to veterans for my two captain’s picks. It will be an interesting thing. It’s certainly keeping me on my toes. Have you spoken to Norman to get his views and insights into the playing group? I haven’t but he sent me a really nice email after I was announced as captain wishing me the best of luck. I’m sure that I’ll get to talk to him at some point over the next three or four months but, I don’t want to sound negative about it, for me it’s more about my association with the players as opposed to looking at the past. I think he and I have been around the block enough to know a lot about the game and have our ideas of doing it [the captaincy] our own way. Norman suggested after the loss in 2011 he would like to see four picks, instead of two, for the Internationals and a change in format where foursomes isn’t the lead-off match. Do you have a view on that and have there been discussions with the Tour around the format for next time? Foursomes are a tough way to start, particularly for the International Team. It’s one of the things I’ve spoken to Commissioner Finchem about – changing the opening Foursomes to Fourballs for the opening match. Finchem said that they are looking at different scenarios but I’m not sure when they would make an announcement on that. Foursomes is the hardest game by far to get started and settled and it’s where, again, the Americans have a distinct advantage because of the Ryder Cup being held 12 months before. They’ll put out pretty much the same team and I’ll have maybe one or two pairings that might be the same from Melbourne, but it’s highly unlikely. About having four picks, I’ve had a great opportunity over the last four months to look at my qualification criteria. I’ve run about three or four different scenarios and the team really doesn’t change that much. Going from two to four picks, I don’t think that would help much. If I had 20 guys all playing on the PGA Tour, maybe four picks would help. However, because they’re spread all around the world, you don’t really know the depth and quality of fields to compare their form with others. One thing I will do, however, is pay a lot of attention to the guys who are winning. It doesn’t matter if you win in Australia or Asia or South Africa or Europe, winning is important. In 2011, there was much discussion about ‘local knowledge’ at Royal Melbourne, but that was quickly put to bed by the play of the Americans. What’s your take on Muirfield Village as I would have thought it’s almost a neutral venue, with HKGOLFER.COM
“Team golf is such a fickle thing sometimes. You can have the strongest team in the world get beaten by a more eclectic bunch that happen to click better together.” most players familiar with it from the Memorial Tournament each year? There are a lot of players who might not be in the top 15 or 16 come selection time but who play Muirfield Village very well. I’m going to have to take that into account when the time comes too. I’m a big believer in ‘horses for courses’. I spoke to Ian Poulter recently after the Ryder Cup and asked about playing under a contrived European flag against the Americans playing for their country. The Europeans seem to have it down pat, igniting a united passion in players from a disparate group of countries. [Laughing] Did anyone ever think to give him an Aussie or South African passport? Whatever the Europeans did on that Saturday night, and I think Olazábal must have done a phenomenal job with this, it was pretty evident when they got on that first tee on Sunday that they weren’t going to lie down. The two or three momentum swings back and forth were the most exciting things, but then it was all Europe in the end. The Europeans made more putts on Sunday but the question is ‘Why did they make more putts?’ I think deep down inside, I think they were more motivated on Sunday. Team golf is such a fickle thing sometimes. You can have the strongest team in the world get beaten by a more eclectic bunch that happen to click better as a ‘team’. I’ve done a lot more reading and spoken to people involved in team sports about it, although you don’t want to be too analytical about it because there is so much heart and soul involved. I’m hopeful of running into Olazábal at some stage soon. I might go up to The Masters and have a few words with him because he may be able to help me with a few ideas. HK Golfer・JAN 2013
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