Rymer Bites: Presidents Cup Musings & More

PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com’s Charlie Rymer checks in from the scenic banks of the Waccamaw River to offer his thoughts on Tiger Woods’ captain’s picks for Team USA in next month’s Presidents Cup – including two players he thinks are still in play for inclusion should Brooks Koepka’s knee injury prevent him from playing.

Charlie Rymer coming to you this morning from the banks of the beautiful Waccamaw River. Yeah, that’s the Intracoastal Waterway right there behind me. Been out for a nice little walk this morning. A lot going on in the world of professional golf over the weekend on PGA Tour Champions. How about Jeff Maggert holing out in a playoff to win the Charles Schwab Cup, the championship? Congratulations to Jeff and that hole-out gave Scott McCarron the season-long Charles Schwab Cup, so both those guys had a great weekend and wonderful year.

All right, now to the PGA TOUR. Ernie Els named his captain’s picks to the International Squad, but most of the talk has been around Tiger Woods, captain of the U.S. team, naming himself as a player. No surprise there. Also, to that team, he added Gary Woodland, U.S. Open Champion who’s been playing some wonderful golf as of late; the very talented and personable Tony Finau, who’s a wonderful team mate, wonderful in the locker room, also really good on the golf course; and also the final member of that squad, the very talented Patrick Reed, who has been a bulldog over the years in the international team competitions, with the exception of not playing very well in Paris last year in the Ryder Cup.

The question remains: Brooks Koepka, who obviously earned a spot on that team through his fine play over the last couple of years, his knee is questionable. Will he tee it up in Melbourne? There’s a lot of doubt as to whether that will happen. So Tiger Woods has got to have somebody on deck to fill that spot for Brooks Koepka. Who are the candidates?

Well, you don’t have to look very much farther than Aiken, South Carolina. Kevin Kisner, who is literally a Georgia Bulldog and the reigning World Match Play Champion. My eye is (also) going to be drawn towards maybe Phil Mickelson, because there’s no one more interesting than Phil Mickelson out there who could force people to watch maybe a little bit more of the President’s Cup than they would otherwise. Let’s face it, it hasn’t been a very competitive series of matches. It has to be interesting. Putting Phil Mickelson on that team would certainly make it interesting.

You guys have a great weekend and I’ll check in with you again, right here next week!