Interviews With Greg Norman

Captain Greg Norman, Tim Clark, Ernie Els, Ryo Ishikawa, & Mike Weir
Sunday, October 11, 2009

MARK WILLIAMS: Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to welcome Captain Norman and Vice Captain Frank Nobilo and some of the members of the International Team. Captain Norman, if you can just make a statement about your team and your effort this week and what it's like as an experience first time as a captain and we'll just open up to questions for everybody.

GREG NORMAN: From my perspective it was a great week. I know we didn't win The Presidents Cup, but at the end of the day, getting to know these 13 guys the way I got to know them over the last seven days was a victory in its own right.

I know we came here to win The Presidents Cup. I know each and every one of these guys gave 101 percent of their concentration and they are effort and their willingness and their desire to win The Presidents Cup.

I think if you look back over the series of the last four days, and the five competitive rounds of golf, I think the Americans probably just out-putted us a little bit; from a ball-striking perspective I think my guys stacked up shot for shot except just getting the ball in the hole a little bit quicker.

The format is very much indicative of that type of need, to get the ball in the hole quicker, but at the end of the day, I know I'm proud of my guys and I know I'm very, very proud of the event and to leave here we should hold our heads high, but also leave here knowing that we can work on a few things to make sure that we have a good chance of winning The Presidents Cup in 2011.

Q. Tiger, Phil and Stricker came up very big for the U.S. Team. Can you talk about their influence on this match?

GREG NORMAN: Well, I think when you get one or two guys really teaming together like Woods and Stricker did, you know you're going to get four out of those five points -- well, actually Woods won all five matches, I believe. That's huge. If he only wins three out of those five, then the whole match is a lot closer than what it is.

But that's what you expect out of your No. 1 player in the world. You need him to step up to the plate and sometimes he hasn't done that, and this time he did do it. I think that was the swing factor, the momentum factor that really changed momentum for us on, I think it was the alternate-shot with Mike Weir and Tim Clark. To be from 1-down with two to go that they were to swing that around and turn it around with 1-up, that was crucial for them. And I think that was a shot in the arm for Tiger himself and that injected a lot of adrenaline into the rest of the team.

So you need your big gun, and he is their big gun and he stepped up to the plate big time for his team.

Q. What things would you like to see changed in terms of the way the event is played and run; and secondly, Ernie, you've said a few times that the U.S. has a big advantage because six of the eight have been played in North America. Do you think it's still playing -- like the next one will be in Australia. Is it still an advantage or is it a home game for the International Team if you have obviously Ryo and Yang and guys from South America? Is it still the advantage it might have been when it was a lot of Aussies and South Africans, basically, in the team?

ERNIE ELS: Well, yeah, I think this tournament was started by the PGA TOUR, and obviously the first one was played in Washington, D.C., and then they thought they will play it there again, so we got beat there again. The third time they moved it, we went all the way south to Australia. We beat them pretty badly down there. And then we came back, obviously, to the U.S.

So out of the first four, we only played one away, 1-1. When we moved again, we got a tie. So there's certainly something there for us when we move away from here.

Canada, which is just across the border, you know, they beat us. But you know, it sounds like sour grapes. They are just one hell of a team. They are one strong team. You've got, I don't know how many players they have got in the Top-10; I don't think there's too many guys out of the Top-20. So they are one heck of a team.

I think another factor that plays in is that they play this kind of format every year. We have got to think about getting our guys together, either playing a friendly, or really getting together before The Presidents Cup and maybe play something and get the gel going. It's tough getting the guys together and getting some team formation in basically two days of practice rounds.

We have to pretty much go back to the drawing board, because they are a pretty well-oiled team and it's hard to beat that kind of team with momentum. But I think it will help when we go down to Australia. At least they have to get on the jet and experience a little bit of jet-lag themselves and maybe a little bit of heat. I don't know what our captain thinks about that, but that's basically what we think.

GREG NORMAN: Well, I think Ernie is 100 percent right. These guys play The Ryder Cup, even the guys who have not played The Ryder Cup get the experience of the other members of the team who have played alternate-shot. And a lot of their games are very similar, so it's easy to blend them and marry them up. They are all just power players -- obviously Zach Johnson and Justin Leonard are not the power players that the other ten players are.

So Ernie is a 110 percent correct. I just wish everyone in the room had the opportunity to experience the camaraderie we have in our room, considering we are under nine different flags. We actually act like we are under one flag, the International flag, but it's not your home country.

But at the end of the day, for to us do what we do and rally around each other the way we do; when we are meeting new rookies, like Ryo Ishikawa stepping up to the plate and coming into a team atmosphere that he's never experienced before, it's tremendous how we do gel together.

And like I said, that's part of the victory for all of us in a lot of ways.

As for some of the things I think should change, I've already spoken to the Commissioner about it. I'm not going to make them public. Hopefully he does take notice and bring them up to speed, because I think they will be very beneficial for The Presidents Cup, not just for the International Team, but for The Presidents Cup. And the whole idea is for the event to grow in stature, and if we can grow it in stature and get a little bit more of a Ryder Cup-ish history behind us, then The Presidents Cup is going to elevate itself every two years, which I want to see that happen.

Q. Do you think it's a home advantage to play in Australia?

GREG NORMAN: I think it is to some degree, absolutely. There's no better feeling when you walk on the tee and you get announced and you get 85 percent of the people yelling for you instead of ten percent of the people or 15. That's a big psyche. You know that you're getting the people's support when you walk from green-to-tee to hit your next tee shot; or if you're playing in alternate-shot and you're walking down the fairway, you have people cheering you on instead of giving you an earful of something. It's tough. It really is tough. You have to be a very strong, focused individual to really block out a lot of the things that we hear. You guys probably don't hear it, but if you walked around and heard some of the stuff, you would be amazed.

But that's part of it. That's part of a team, whether you play soccer or cricket or rugby or anything, you're going to get that. If you are only doing it once every two years, it's pretty hard to get adjusted to it.

Q. People came in here with playing a couple of practice rounds in high regard of Harding Park; after the tournament, do you look back and think it's a course that's worthy of holding this competition; and you're talking about the crowds, I've been to Ryder Cups and they seem to be a little more vicious, but were the fans here pretty good to the International Team?

GREG NORMAN: I think the fans were great. I made a comment, I think it was like a 70/30 split was my read on it. That would be expected here in San Francisco. We have a lot of ex-pats from all around the world. Obviously the Asian nations are represented very well here. So for Japan and South Korea, you really feel like you had a tremendous amount of support. And there were a lot of Australians and I saw a lot of Canadians out there and I saw a lot of South Africans wearing their rugby jerseys. There was great support out there for us, but it's pretty hard to get a majority of the support and you wouldn't expect that anyway.

As for Harding Park, you'll have to ask the boys that. I've only played it one time. I thought from walking around, looking at it, it was a pretty good test of golf. If you played well, you scored well. If you didn't play well, you're going to struggle a little bit. I think as a golf course, with just a minor adjustments to it, it could be a magnificent golf course worthy of probably holding a PGA or a U.S. Open Championship.

Q. As much as Fred Couples credited Tiger and Phil for their performances this week, he really liked what Sean O'Hair did today. What impressed you most about what he did today, especially for a rookie?

ERNIE ELS: He out-played me. I wasn't totally on my game, but he played very well. Didn't miss too many shots. I played against him earlier in the week. I think myself and Scotty beat him and his partner. They didn't make too many putts that day, and you know, we played pretty well.

But you know, I've known Sean for a very long time. Probably six years now. He used to be coached by a South African, Gary Gilchrist, and started knowing him through him. So I've seen him come through. He's had a couple of difficulties earlier on in his private life, but he's a wonderful guy. I think he's got as much talent as anybody I've seen, so he's got a bright future, and I would believe he's got a chance to become No. 1 in the world one day. He swings it well, he putts it well now, so a great young man.

Q. Without getting into specifics or tipping your hand, could you give us a sense of the certain areas that you think this Cup could use some improvement?

GREG NORMAN: (Shaking head).

Q. We asked Tim. We don't understand the answer. (Laughter).

GREG NORMAN: You think you'd understand my answer? (Laughing).

I don't want to do that. It was a private discussion, it really was. It was something that I told him early on, that if I did notice something over the two-year time period that I thought I didn't necessarily agree with the way things were being operated, and I personally thought could be improved, just out of my sense of understanding of what golf is all about, my sense of understanding as a player what the players are looking for; so I did. There are other things. I just saw him on the tee this morning before we flipped the coin and there was a couple I just mentioned to him, and he took note of it and he said, "I'll bring it up with our committee." What happens after that, I don't know.

Q. It would seem obvious that you would return as captain for Australia. Your thoughts on that?

GREG NORMAN: I don't know whether it's obvious or not. They are going to make the announcement in January. There has not been any -- Tim doesn't show his hand on any aspect of anything, so you've got to sit back there and really wait. Either way, if I don't become captain in 2011, I had a great time this time; I can tell you that. And just to be able to say you captained The Presidents Cup one time would be plenty.

If I was asked to be captain in 2011, yeah, I would absolutely accept it. I think it would be a joy to go to my home country and a golf club that I'm a member at to go and try and finally win the Cup back after ten years. It would be an honor to do it again.

Q. Would you like to?

GREG NORMAN: If he asked me; if he asked me, I would say yes. But he hasn't asked me. So that won't come until January.

Q. What about if Ernie asked you?

GREG NORMAN: If Ernie asked me? I would say yes to Ernie. (Laughter).

Q. Mike, you've been around a few of these, and the results have unfortunately been kind of the same almost every time. Are the American players that much better or do they just play better on this week from your experience?

MIKE WEIR: No, I don't think they are better. I think the fact is, as Greg said, they just seemed to get it in the hole a little quicker. I don't see any it difference when we are playing. It seems to be -- the matches I've been involved with and watching, they seem to be so close and it comes down to a few key things.

Maybe that little extra experience of them playing every year, in this similar format, that is maybe the difference. I don't think any of us 12 guys look across there and think that they are better than we are. That's not it at all. I think, you know, maybe you have to give a better answer than that, but I think the experience factor, maybe it's just the one thing that has maybe gotten them over the hump.

Q. How do you maintain the calm that you were able to maintain this weekend playing against all of these match play veterans and even winning three matches? And Greg, if you could think back to when you were 18, do you think you had the poise that he had?

RYO ISHIKAWA: When Greg first picked me to be on this team, I didn't know if I was worthy to be a part of this team. But when I got here and all of the players looked after me, talked to me, gave me a lot of support, and that really helped me throughout this week.

I just want to thank the captains and all of the players for all of the wonderful support and all of the help that they gave me so I could play this week.

GREG NORMAN: What was I doing when I was 18? I had about a 20 handicap, I was surfing, and I wasn't winning golf tournaments like he is, that's for sure.

I mean this in all sincerity. This gentleman sitting to my left, my immediate left, you have no idea the amount of poise he's got. He only turned 18 a month ago. And for him to be able to walk to the first tee on Thursday like he did and to never expect the reception like he expected; the first tee at The Presidents Cup, especially at Harding Park, it's a very confined space and there's a lot of things happening, people yelling, screaming, cameras going off and everything like that, it can really hit you between the forehead or hit you in the forehead. But the way he conducted himself and handled himself right from the very first moment he's walked onto the golf course and into the team room, you know, we have embraced him and he's embraced us.

And that's the spirit that we talk about with the International Team. And he's a young kid that we have all sat back and read about for months and months and months about how good he is, and playing well in Japan and winning in Japan is great, but stepping up to the plate on the big stage and getting thrown to the wolves against Tiger Woods on Thursday, and then to bounce back the way he's bounced back; there's not too many -- you've got to be in the sport to know how good that is, and you have to be a player to know how good that is.

Q. For Tim and Mike, as non-bombers, your impressions of Harding Park, particularly as a match-play venue; and if either of you have dealt with Tiger in this format before, did you notice a greater intensity, perhaps greater urgency? He has been criticized in the past for not performing the way he did this week.

TIM CLARK: In terms of the course, obviously it played a lot firmer as the week got on and I think that helped us out. But still for us, there were quite a few par 4s that were drivable that were not drivable for us. So that makes quite a difference on the golf course.

And I think the par 5s, we could get to most of the par 5s, I think what was it, 5? One on the front nine we couldn't get to that, maybe some of the longer hitters could. But overall, the par 4s and everything else kind of favored guys like us because it was playing so firm. If you got on the fairway it went out there and if you were in the rough, you had a chance to chase it on to the green. It wasn't like someone came up and put bunkers in front of every green, unlike most of the courses we have been playing lately. I think it was a good course, especially for the match-play format.

MIKE WEIR: I agree with Tim, as it went on it did play a lot firmer. It's a good shot-maker's course. Some nice dog-leg par 4s and you had to get the ball shaping the right way. I agree with Tim on that.

As far as Tiger is concerned, I didn't notice any more intensity. He's always like that. He's Tiger Woods. In our match in particular, we had a great chance, and he had a great putt on 17, and I missed one and I felt really bad for Timmy, because he had played so well.

But I knew he hit a good drive on 18 and I knew I needed to hit it close and I knew the angle Tiger had he was going to hit it in there close. I took a chance trying to hit a hybrid in close to the hole, but it didn't pan out. But we played great and Tim played unbelievable this week. So I was proud of him.

TIM CLARK: I do think Tiger was very comfortable with Steve out there. I think that's the one thing, if I noticed anything, I think he's probably found a partner now that he feels comfortable with and has fun with out there.

Q. I had a question for Ryo, and Ernie, I wouldn't mind your thoughts on it, just given your experience. But being around these guys and in this format this week, did it make you any more comfortable and give you any more outlook toward playing elsewhere next year, whether that's down in Australia at the end of the year or Europe or the U.S.?

RYO ISHIKAWA: When I get back, I'm going to have eight tournaments remaining in Japan, and obviously nothing has been decided for the future, but for now, I'm going to be playing on the Tour in Japan.

Obviously having played with great players all over the world this week, I'll be looking forward to playing with them in the future and I'll be looking forward to playing in America and in foreign lands. I think playing in other countries is going to help my golf game, and obviously in the end, I would like to play on the PGA TOUR and be able to play with the guys that I played with this week, and also I want to be able to play on The Presidents Cup team next time that it comes around, and I'm looking forward to playing with everybody.

ERNIE ELS: You want to ask your question again?

Q. He'll translate it for you.

ERNIE ELS: Okay.

MARK WILLIAMS: Gentlemen, thank you for your time. We look forward to seeing you in Royal Melbourne in two years' time. Thank you.

Captains Greg Norman & Fred Couples
Saturday, October 10, 2009

CHRIS REIMER: We welcome Captain Couples and Captain Norman. An exciting day of golf, a lead for the U.S. Team going into the final day. Maybe open with a few quick mentions of how the day went for each of you.

FRED COUPLES: I thought the day was a tough day first of all playing golf in that weather, 36 holes or 35 holes or 34 holes for a lot of these guys, I give them a lot of credit. Like we were talking here last night about the last few holes, how Greg's team did their jobs, and today, by great, great play, our guys made a couple flip arounds there at the end to turn it into our favor. And then we hung on for dear life in best-ball this afternoon.

So for us to be up, that's a huge, huge part of this whole thing is to be ahead going into Sunday.

GREG NORMAN: Absolutely, Freddie is 100 percent right. I think the momentum changed to some degree, not like it was a severe momentum change, but 17 and 18 this morning, to turn a 1-down into a 1-up victory was a very impressive performance. We feel like we are still close enough. Obviously we have to win eight matches out of 12 which a lot of people are probably going to say that's a tall task but it can be done and it has been done. My players are still very upbeat about it. They want to go out there tomorrow and just win their one match, whatever that match is. And the rest will take care of itself.

So if we can get eight guys in blue on the board, then we win The Presidents Cup.

Q. You guys both look pretty fried right now. Is it harder playing or captaining in one of these events, both physically and emotionally?

FRED COUPLES: Well, at my age now, I don't want to play in this thing. But to captain, it's exhausting. Like Greg, we were talking on the 12th or 13th hole, our bodies have been like this for six hours and my whole body hurts just from trying to stay warm.

I don't believe I sat in the cart one time today. Although, I guess they caught me texting someone trying to find them and Jimmy Roberts, I was sitting in a cart, so I guess that's kind of a fib.

You know, we watch these guys. I've played in this several times, Greg has played in it several times, and now it's their time. They are putting on a great show, there have been a lot of incredible shots played, very few poor shots, and great, great, great golf.

GREG NORMAN: I'm pretty much the same way. It's very -- I'm a little bit more warm. I was very much into the matches today. I kind of followed my players a lot and I was trying to walk with them, like Freddie does, walk with them as much as you can to get them going. I think it's probably more brutal sitting on the sidelines in cold weather than when you're playing because when you're playing, you really don't think about the cold. But at the same time, this is probably one of the toughest conditions, the golf course turned out went from a fairly short, easy golf course to a long, brutal golf course by the end of the day.

So Freddie is 100 percent right. These guys did a phenomenal job. From my perspective, would I prefer to be playing? Yeah, I'd prefer to be playing.

Q. What did you tell Stricker on that screen when he made the bomb? You were on TV saying something to him. And a quick comment about Tim Clark over the course of the three days.

GREG NORMAN: Well, Strick, I just said, "Enough's enough", basically. I didn't say those exact words, but he putted so impressively well. Every time I watched him, he was making putts, so I didn't even watch him. I figured I'd just leave.

And as for Tim Clark, he's my pit bull. There's no more gutsier player than Tim Clark. He actually remind me of a modern day version of a Corey Pavin. Corey was always such a tenacious player and I never thought there was a shot he couldn't hit, even though he was probably one of the shortest guys in the field. And Timmy is not short by any means, but he's just a gutsy guy. He wants the bit between his teeth.

Going down 18 today, this afternoon, I had to pull him back, he was just racing. His system was firing, I said, "Hey, slow down, come back here with us, and you're going to get there before anybody else gets there." He's very excited about playing, and he loves being in the position, and he loves his 11 team members, and he wants to put up the best thing for them.

Q. You matched Tiger against Y.E. Yang. Did Tiger ask for that, and can you run us through the thought process with that pairing?

FRED COUPLES: No. Actually I guess it's the way it worked out. Greg had put Y.E. down there so I did match him up, but to be quite honest, we got down to really only two more pairings, because the Cabrera/Furyk, I guess if I'm explaining it right, was a left over 12th pairing and it's probably one of the best ones.

What happened is we were trying to get all those guys to play early, and in our opinion, they -- meaning Greg and Frank, threw us for a little loop because we thought they would be going with -- again, I said this outside, it sounds really wrong to say, but their guys who were playing better, and I don't know if Y.E. is playing better than Camilo or not. But we were looking at different names, like a Cabrera, Goosen, Singh, Yang, Clark, and they put him on the end and it became a numbers game. And really we put Kenny Perry up against Ryo because Kenny -- because it would be nice to play him, because he's the oldest and he's the youngest. Other than that, that's just the way that really worked.

Q. Years and years ago it seems now, you requested the idea of having a Presidents Cup because the people out of Europe didn't have a Ryder Cup to play against the U.S. Team. Has it become what you hoped it would become?

GREG NORMAN: I think it's getting there. It doesn't have the history and the nostalgia, but each year that goes by, yes, when you have the players of this caliber in here, and like Freddie says, seeing some of the shots that they hit out there over the last couple of days. It would be good if the International Team stepped up to play a little bit more consistently than what has taken place over the last eight years, but it will take time.

Ryder Cup was really a non-entity for a long period of time until all of a sudden in the late 70s, early 80s, it got a huge boost by incorporating Europe into the mix. You guys probably know that date better than I do. So that's when the whole history of The Ryder Cup started being brought up, and over a period of time, there is a lot of history there.

So now there's also a great competition in that event. There's great competition here, but just we come close, but we just haven't been able to hoist the Cup above our heads as often as we would like. So there's going to be time, there needs a few more events, whatever it is, 20, 15, I don't know, but you do need to have history behind you to really create some sense of being, I guess, with an event.

Q. Can you give us some insight into your thought process behind your match-ups, for example, why did you pick Adam Scott to play Stewart Cink, and was there any one that requested to play early or late or any specific player?

GREG NORMAN: Well, I asked Camilo, Adam Scott if they wanted to go out first. I thought I wanted to get two good players, and I think they go under the radar screen a little bit because Adam was one of my picks. I thought both guys are hitting the ball well, and Camilo had a rest today. Camilo had a rest today because he got hit on the foot by a golf ball by one of Freddie's team members yesterday. So we wanted to rest him a little bit. You know Zach hit him on the fly, on the outside of his left foot.

So he's ready to go now and he wanted to go out first, so we put him out first. And then when Freddie put up Stewart Cink, I thought Adam matches up very nicely with Stewart. So you play in your mind how the players play, and I thought that was a very good match up for Adam. And he wanted to go out reasonably early, as well, so that played out well.

Q. Did anyone want to go out late?

GREG NORMAN: Yeah, Vijay asked to be out late. He wanted to have a bit of a rest. Angel, he wanted to play late. Everybody else was, when it came, it came. It didn't bother them.

Q. Just wondering why or how much consideration you gave to front-loading your lineups and in the final analysis, why you did not.

FRED COUPLES: Well, I would never -- I love my team to death. I have a lot of respect for Greg's team. When I sit here, however you look at it, if Greg looks at my team and thinks we are going to front-load I would front load with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and everyone else seems to be top-top players.

If I look at Greg's team, you know, I can't single out anyone who is playing poorly, and I can't single out any of my guys who are playing poorly.

It became, just like he said a second ago, kind of similar games. Hunter wanted to get out early. He did not play this afternoon. So we thought it would be best for him to bounce right back out there. And then we got on this little fun tug-of-war where we just then matched up guys and all of a sudden we got what I consider the meat. When you put Ernie Els and Ryo and Tim Clark and Yang and Vijay Singh and Goosen and Cabrera we started matching up and then we got the thick of our guys in there. And Kenny Perry, Johnson, Woods, Glover, Mickelson and Furyk, that's how we matched up.

GREG NORMAN: And myself, I don't believe in front-loading or end-loading. I'm 100 percent believer in what Freddie just said, match up the players for their capabilities. We are going to get second guessed whatever we do anyway. We don't make the right decision whatever we make.

But in my opinion, I just go on what I think how the players -- I know my guys so well now. I know how they are putting, I know how they are thinking, I know how they are driving the golf ball, and that's the beauty about Freddie and I, being in our shoes right now. And however it plays out, it will play out. If we get beaten, you know, Freddie is a hero. If we beat Freddie I'm a hero and the players are heroes. So we just do what we thought was best.

To be quite honest, today was probably -- yesterday's lunch time drawing and this afternoon's, I enjoyed the most because you can actually understand each other's process and it's not like stacking. We have never done that, actually, this whole four days.

Q. Just wanted to know what you saw from Anthony Kim today, he struggled yesterday and you sat him down this morning and he came back, at least a strong finish; you seem particularly happy with him after the match.

FRED COUPLES: Yeah, he and Jim Furyk played yesterday and it got a little bit rough at the end and they ended up having a tough match and then today they came right back and they got up early and they held the lead, and then they hung in there. And AK, I believe, birdied 15 to top Cabrera had a very short birdie putt on 16. Cabrera drove it on 17 and AK made a birdie and on 18, Furyk hit probably the best shot he's hit all week.

So you know, AK is a tough, tough, tough competitor. You know, I don't consider anyone -- I mean, I put Stewart Cink out there with Lucas Glover. They haven't gotten a point yet. And when they came in here, they were probably the two best guys that paired up. Same ball, same kind of attitude, and they haven't gotten a point.

It's very hard to say go figure any of this stuff out. Whereas AK, we thought we would go with Phil and then Phil found a guy that he felt comfortable with, so we shook that lineup this afternoon and AK went again with Furyk and they played phenomenal. That was a huge win.

Q. Firstly to Fred, so are you saying that there's no -- it's just a complete coincidence that Tiger and Yang are playing? With the PGA thing, it's just --

FRED COUPLES: Well, it's not now, but when Greg but Y.E. Yang down there, if you look at other guys that we had involved, there were only two more picks to really be made. Lucas went as a guy on, you just put out, and then Greg matched him with Vijay. Then after that, you know, I didn't want to make it look like I just threw Tiger Woods into the match because he fit in at 11th or 12th. That's how Jay and I looked at it. And I don't know how long it took us to do it, but then we finally said, why not, and that's how it came out.

But if that was the case, I would have said it in a second and a half and we would be almost halfway home eating dinner. (Laughter) But that's not how it worked out. But we have talked to Tiger every day about the matches. Today, he said, put me out early. And obviously putting him out in the eighth match is not early. It just didn't come out that way.

GREG NORMAN: 10:38.

FRED COUPLES: That is early. 10:38 is an early tee time for the eighth match.

Q. As you look back on it, in the four-ball, it's a tie; and in the alternate-shot, again, the three points that you're behind, that's where it came from. Are there any of those matches where you look at and a lot of them are close, you won them yesterday, and Thursday, not so much today; do you look back on any of those as defining moments in any way?

GREG NORMAN: Well, the defining moment today was when Woods and Stricker turned around a 1-down with two to go with Tim Clark and Weir in the morning in alternate-shot to end up winning. That's what the difference is.

If they keep the lead, if Tiger doesn't make that putt on 17, and Weir makes the putt, it's all over and we go into tomorrow behind one point. Don't over-analyse this whole thing. It was just great golf by Tiger Woods making the putt on 17 turning the whole thing around and he obviously hit a phenomenal shot on 18, but there was one, two, three, four strokes in the whole three days made the difference between three points and one point.

CHRIS REIMER: To finish up, maybe some comments on that finish by Tiger, 17 and 18 this morning.

FRED COUPLES: Again, Greg just hit it right on the button. Tim Clark is one, one fine player, and I believe Greg, yesterday, when we were sitting here said, "Mike Weir and Tim Clark wanted to go out against Tiger Woods. " I think. That was probably the match of today.

If anything, our guys have won a lot of close matches, even though it doesn't seem like it. And Greg's team, besides Tiger and Stricker, has put a whooping on a lot of 4 & 3s, where we have won a lot of 2 &1s and 1-ups. So they have been phenomenal golf, and I have watched four straight days now. So our team is primed and ready to go up against Greg's 12 guys tomorrow, and like he said, I believe we have to win less matches than their team does.

So we are in better shape because of Tiger's and Stricker's flip-around there against Tim Clark and Weir, no doubt.

CHRIS REIMER: Thank you, gentlemen. Good luck tomorrow.

Captains Greg Norman & Fred Couples
Friday, October 9, 2009

CHRIS REIMER: We want to welcome International Team Captain Greg Norman and United States Captain Fred Couples. After two days of the 2009 Presidents Cup, the United States team up 6 1/2 - 5 1/2. Captain Norman, if you don't mind starting, maybe some opening comments about today's matches.

GREG NORMAN: Great. That's how I think the end result, from our perspective, we looked like we were down -- well we were down 5-1 in our matches. To come out with a push just was an admirable job by my guys.

Tim Clark, to do what he did at the end, to come down to make eagle to win that match was really the shot in the arm. I can tell you our team cabin is very, very happy right now and very excited about the way we turned things around today, because it really could have been a disastrous situation if the trend just kept going the way it was going.

CHRIS REIMER: Captain Couples, you still have a lead, that has to be pleasing going into day three.

FRED COUPLES: To a degree, it's either a short lead or a small lead, but as Greg said at one time, we were up, but barely up, and his guys certainly have as much fight as our guys, and they battled back, and we did lose a couple of matches. But we won one that we thought we might not win even though we were up.

You know, Timmy Clarke, eagling that last hole was a big boost for them, but at the same time our guys are awfully excited about the way they are playing. That's a key thing. Greg's guys were great today, to battle back and get three points when they needed to was a good finish.

Q. Was it your plan all along to keep Tiger and Stricker together, or was it something where you felt compelled to just veer off the plan and keep them together because of how they have played?

FRED COUPLES: Well, quickly, they wanted to play together. And Stricker thought they would be a great best-ball team, and Tiger thought they would be a great alternate-shot team.

So when we got here, we were going to put them together, and obviously they won the first match and then they won again today. So until they get tired of each other, they are going to play again and again and again.

Q. It seems that as you were saying, that there was a lot of fight in the team. It seems that when you're getting to those closing holes, your guys are somehow pulling out a half a point or a point, and you could be 4- or 5-down by now and you're only 1-down; so talk about that a little bit. And Fred, in reverse, same thing to you.

GREG NORMAN: Well I think that's just indicative of what professional golf is all about. If you're behind the 8-ball, you feel like you've got to dig a little deeper, you have the ability to do that. There's no reflection on the opposing team. Just our guys just came up with the shots at the right time.

Hopefully, and I said to my guys in the team room, I said, "Maybe we should just miss those tomorrow. So get your matches over and done with early." My guys are very comfortable with those golf holes, and the way it balanced out, and look, just take Tim Clark and Vijay, for example. There's role reversals on those holes. You would think that Tim Clark was going to birdie 17, because he's a really good pitcher of the golf ball and a very good putter, so you would think he would have made it. Well he makes it and he eagles the last when you think Vijay would eagle the last.

There's no real secret formula why it happens. It did happen. You never know. Things could be different over the weekend. But at the moment, the guys feel very, very comfortable coming to those holes.

FRED COUPLES: Yeah, I was behind the 16th green yesterday for probably an hour, and I looked forward, saw some birdies and I turned around, I watched Adam Scott drive the green, Goosen drive the green. Those were quality shots.

Our guys did, too. You know, Lucas drove the green. We 3-putted -- obviously we 3-putted the 18th green the last match of the day. But those things are going to happen. And if you're telling me guys are driving greens and knocking it on par 5s in two and making a little blunder by missing a 3-footer, anyone is okay with that.

But as the week goes on, all of the shots are going to be double and triple escalating, too. So our guys know. And I don't believe -- I've watched a lot of shots, but each team is playing very consistent and good golf. If you look at these scores, guys are shooting today 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-under par, which isn't bad. The ones who were 5-under were losing, and the ones who were seven or eight were winning their matches.

Q. Are they playing the last holes necessarily better than your guys?

FRED COUPLES: Well, yesterday Lucas Glover drove it on the green and Allenby drove it, not one of his best drives. And Vijay hit an unbelievable pitch, they made birdie, and we 3-putted.

And on the 18th hole, Justin Leonard hit a wood 30 feet short of the hole and Goosen hit a very good wood and chipped it up close and you would think we had the advantage.

It's not that we are butchering the holes, but those guys are playing them awfully solid and we are hitting good shots. In a medal play tournament, you would walk in and say, I left a shot or two out there. And in match play, if you're 1-up and leave a shot or two on those holes, you're 1-down and that's what we have done.

Q. Could you talk about putting Sean with Phil tomorrow and what you're expecting to see; is he going to get a boost out of that do you think?

FRED COUPLES: We are hoping. Sean is a great kid, has played very well and not made any putts. Phil has wanted to play with Sean and we wanted Sean to feel comfortable, of all the guys, which doesn't mean he's playing poorly, it just means it's his first time. He's played with Hunter and we decided to split those two up. Today we chose Phil to go out and play alternate-shot tomorrow morning.

Q. Your decision tomorrow morning to sit down your No. 1 player, on paper at least, I guess isn't something you took lightly; how hard a decision was that, and how did Geoff take the news, and what's he had to say about his play so far this week? I'm sure he's disappointed.

GREG NORMAN: Well, it wasn't a decision I made on my own. It's a decision -- I had a conversation with Geoff independently. I took him into another room and talked to him about how he's feeling. I'm always a big believer in respecting how a player feels.

And it wasn't easy. I said to him -- "Geoff, the most important thing for me is that you are there tomorrow afternoon and you're there for the weekends, Sunday." I said, "We need you. If you're feeling a little bit out of sync for whatever reason, if tomorrow morning is going to make you feel better." And he said, "I would be happy doing that. "

So it wasn't my call, it was a call between the two of us. It was a joint decision.

And obviously it goes over to making a decision, okay, who else would be. And then Angel, he just basically asked me, he said, "I'd just like to have a rest so I can be ready on Sunday." I said, "Okay, if you want a rest, you can take a rest." Because everybody else wanted to play. That was really an easy decision for me. I didn't have to think about it -- I actually thought about somebody else. But when he came up to me and he volunteered it, I said, fine.

And you have to respect the feelings of the players, simple as that. You can't ask them to do something they don't want to do. And quite honestly, both those players were very happy to receive that position or situation they are in.

They will be fine. All they need is just a little rest, and Geoff's played a lot of golf of late. Quite honestly, he was beaten up a lot, too. He was against Tiger and Stricker for two straight days. He felt like he was playing okay, fairly decent golf yesterday, and he just got into a buzzsaw. And sometimes you need to -- you don't throw the baby out with the bath water, but you want to get rid of the bath water so the baby can swim the next couple of days and be okay.

So I think it was just a good move for him to say that it was time for him to take a rest.

Q. A year ago, I asked captain Couples this question about the golf course, and how different it is or unique it is than the other golf courses where the Presidents Cup has been contested. Captain Norman, now that we are a couple of days into the matches, your thoughts on that?

GREG NORMAN: About Harding Park?

Q. Yes, sir.

GREG NORMAN: I think everybody likes Harding Park. For a public golf course and the number of rounds that get played here on an annual basis, I think it holds up very, very well. In my mind, as a player and as an architect, it would be so ease to make this one of the best golf courses in America. That probably won't take place because it needs money, but it's a great venue. The players like it. Every one of my guys, to a tee, says it's great to get on a golf course where you actually have to maneuver the ball off the tee. A lot of golf courses we play nowadays are just flat-out, bomb it straight and away it goes, and at least this one here, you have to work the ball. So it's got a lot of style about it. It's got a lot of style about it from a golfer's perspective.

Q. Greg answered why he sat the two people he's sitting tomorrow morning, and how did you make your decision?

FRED COUPLES: We all huddled up in the room and went over lots of things, and basically our pairings were pretty much there, except for the guys to sit, and there would be two groups and we were going to flip-flop a couple of things. We decided to sit AK and Lucas for really no rhyme or reason. You know, two guys have to sit. It's the hardest, I think the hardest thing besides picking two guys about a month ago.

You know, they are all big boys in there. Nobody is whining and complaining that they are not getting to play five matches. They are getting a ton of golf.

I just felt like -- I polled four or five, six guys, actually, and I didn't bring in the two guys that we sat, because I felt like there were four of them that were probably going to sit. And we decided on AK and Lucas.

Q. Can you talk about having another group against Stricker and Woods and what do you think about that and had you talked to them about that before you stuck them into that buzz saw?

GREG NORMAN: Yes, I did bring it up to them. You have to ask the guys when they want to tee off what time they would like -- Goosen wanted to tee off first. He really wanted to go play first tomorrow, so we have Goosen and Camilo out of the gate.

And then you ask, okay, if Tiger gets drawn, well, I was the first up, so it was a lot easier that way, but if Tiger goes up second or third, anybody would like to go. Mike Weir and Tim Clark says, "Yeah, we'll play them." So those guys stepped up to the plate. They don't have any problem with them.

I think if you're a player I would want to, too. I would step up to the plate. If you're afraid of losing, then you're going to lose. If you have no fear -- no matter who you play, you've just got to go and play your best golf. If a guy goes out and shoots a score like they did in the alternate-shot the other day, you're only going to get beat unless you shoot a phenomenal score. So you should never play the individual or the name of the person or the reputation. You just go out there and play. And both of these guys said, we'll go play them, it doesn't bother us.

And here you have probably two of the relatively shortest hitters in the 24-man field going against one of the relatively longest hitters and one of the greatest putters this year with Strick. They were actually relishing the chance of stepping up to the plate tomorrow.

CHRIS REIMER: Thank you for coming in and good luck tomorrow.

Captains Greg Norman & Fred Couples
Thursday, October 8, 2009

LAURA HILL: Captain Couples and Captain Norman, thanks for coming in, first day under our belts, 3 1/2-2 1/2 and the pairings are out. Maybe just give a reaction to how things stand at this point and the pairings going into tomorrow.

GREG NORMAN: From our perspective, we really were hoping to get some closeness to a push today, which was the case. When the pairings came out last night, I thought it would be a very, very close day, indeed. I think every one of the players from my side have held their head extremely high. I know with Ryo and Geoff to get up against Tiger and Steve, it was a bit of a buzzsaw for them. But that's part of the stepping stones that we have to go through.

I thought Ryo did a great job in holding his poise and his calmness during the whole thing. So at the end of the day, as we look back on it, I think we can all be very comfortable with it. Would we like to be in the lead? Yes, we would be. But at the end of the day, I think the performance of my team was exceptional and we are happy. We are not ecstatic about it, but we are happy.

FRED COUPLES: Yeah, I think our team is happy, too. From the start, when Greg and I were getting all the groups off the first tee, and by the time we got out there, we had a couple groups 2-down, 3-down, and obviously Tiger was ahead early, which we were hoping for and to be our leader of the day and turn things around.

As Greg said, it was an up-and-down battle. I physically got tired of looking at the scoreboard because every time I thought the day could finish this way, a putt would be made and I thought we would have 2 1/2 points.

For our guys, they are very excited and they had great matches. Some play was tremendous, and some was a little sloppy. Alternate-shot is not a whole lot of fun, and I thought both teams performed very well.

Q. 3 1/2-2 1/2, could have been 4-2, obviously the big turnaround on that last green. You seemed to look like -- or Justin seemed to look like you seemed to think that that putt was conceded; was it just a miscommunication do you think?

FRED COUPLES: No. Actually we finished -- here is how the story goes. We finished. They did some talking after the round. Justin talked to, I think one of the NBC guys. We went into the room and Jim Furyk told us what happened. And there weren't really many people asking, because no one really caught it. We didn't know if maybe Retief stepped in his line or said something. There was not a problem.

And then 15 minutes later, Retief came in and talked with Greg, talked to Justin and I, and told us you know, his mind kind of went blank, that he didn't mean anything by it, and Justin didn't have a problem. No one has a problem with it.

Did we think we were going to be up 4-2? Yes, we really did. But will it won't be the last putt ever missed at the Presidents Cup and it won't be the last time a little bit of a reversal was done. So we'll just come out tomorrow and try to get 3 1/2 more points against this team.

Q. Will you talk about Adam Scott's play today, especially the last couple of holes, and how important that was for him and for the team.

GREG NORMAN: Well, he knew coming off the driving range this morning going to the first tee, he knew he was going to have a good day. He felt very confident, very relaxed; like most great players, when you get a little bit out of sync, it doesn't take much to put yourself back into place.

Like Freddie said, we were on the first tee for all of the groups teeing off. When I saw him walking up to the tee, I could see the confidence in his stride. You could see the guy holding his shoulders back a little bit more and he was ready to go. Very proud of him, because he wasn't hitting the ball that great on Tuesday; he's figured it out, like we all do, somehow. And when the gun goes off, we love that pressure. We make sure something happens for our own game, for our own credibility and for the team, and that's what happened today. I was very proud of him.

Q. Can you both address briefly how the course sort of influenced play today, and particularly 17 and 18 seemed kind of interesting to have a drivable par 4 and then a reachable par 5 to finish. It could provide for a lot of swings like you were talking about.

FRED COUPLES: Well, actually I stood behind the 16th green for probably the last hour and a half, and even that hole, there were some key birdies, some great shots. Tim Clark, even though he was behind, hit an unbelievable shot from the left trees. We birdied right on -- or actually birdied and they did not birdie and closed that match out.

Speaking of the 17th, there was some beautiful drives there. Retief pounded it possibly when we thought we were going to get at least half a point; Lucas drove it on the green after winning two holes in a row and Robert drove it to the right and they made an up-and-down and that was incredible and we 3-putted.

18, I think that was a great finish. There was a lot of excitement. If you look at it, there was some beautiful shots hit in there. And I think the guys the whole week were looking forward to those holes.

GREG NORMAN: And I agree with Freddie. In this format, you need to have that little bit of a relief valve. The intensity of the day, when you look at it, you've got my guys, Mike Weir and Tim Clark 2-up with five to go and they end up missing a 10-footer to stay at 1-up and then they make four birdies in a row.

This format, I can tell you, it's tough on you, and it's probably even tougher on Freddie and I as players; we still play, we still compete. I know from my perspective, it was draining to be out there, because you still have a good eye to how to read a putt and you still have a good eye to see things how you would like to see it be played. And to sit back there and actually watch it take place was a bit of an interesting day and a tough day in a lot of ways for me.

But if I was playing, if Freddie and I were playing, we would love to have 17 and 18 the way they were. Even 16, the boys were pounding it down to the front edge, 40, 50 yards from the green, so it gives them that ability to play really aggressive golf. And I thought the TOUR staff did a great job with their pin positions. Didn't make the guys have to work extremely hard, and they wanted to see birdies; I think they got a lot of birdies. I think Stricker and Woods, what did they shoot 7-under today maybe, 6- or 7-under? That's very impressive golf to say the least. I don't think anybody out there would have been over par. So they did a great job setting up the golf course.

Q. Obviously Geoff and Ryo were always going to have their work cut out against such a strong team; were they disappointed in the way they played today or did they feel they just ran into a buzzsaw?

GREG NORMAN: Well, I think they know they ran into a buzzsaw. I think the boys, Steve and Tiger, birdied three of the first five holes maybe, if my memory is right. And there's not much you can do about it. When you get behind the 8-ball and you have two great putters like they are, 1 and 2 in the world, it's going to be hard to come back from that.

When I saw Ryo a couple of times, once on the 6th hole, and then the 8th hole and 9th hole, I just told him, this is a part of golf. This is a learning curve. Understand that this is a learning curve and it's going to be good for you in the long run. You might feel pretty bad right now -- because he felt bad. He felt uncomfortable being in that position, no question. And alternate-shot is probably a format he hasn't played that often.

And I thought his pairing with Geoff was the right pairing for him to have a calming influence and a statesman, an elder statesman like Geoff is.

But at the end of the day, we just had a conversation with him there. He feels good. He does feel good about himself right now, and the other 11 guys rallied around him and patted him on the back and said, some stepping stones are smooth and some are a little rough, and this one was a little rough for him.

Geoff's Geoff. He's as calm as they come. He doesn't like getting beaten. Nobody likes getting their rear end handed to them, but at the end of the day when you know that you step up there and guys are making a lot of putts on you during the day, it's going to be a long, hard day for yourself. It's over and done with. They got beaten and they are looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. What sort of things did Michael Jordan do for the team today, and what players in particular did he do it for?

FRED COUPLES: Well, I never really saw him. I was on my own. But up until today, he's been having fun with the guys and trying to get them relaxed. And in the team room, we watched baseball and all that.

But on the golf course, he's allowed to do a little bit, and not trying to do a lot. So he's just telling them to relax and have fun and this is what it's all about. Just like what Greg and I do. And I don't want Greg to think I've got two assistants out there. He is out there dressed like that because I thought it would be best to keep it from being this show. But everyone knows Michael Jordan, and he's having a great time.

So he's in the team room, and he's having fun and it's just like he's a player on the team.

Q. How much more comfortable do you think your rookies will be tomorrow, and also, just mentally, the difference between being down only one point, as opposed to two going into tomorrow?

GREG NORMAN: Well, I think all of us are going to be a lot more comfortable. We got the first rounds under our belt. There's been a big lead-up to this tournament. I know I feel that way and I'm sure Freddie does. It's great when the first tee ball gets hit, because it kind of like takes a lot of the pressure off of everybody. It's down to just playing golf now.

And these guys have worked their way into it. It's a format -- like I said, when you don't play a lot of the true foursomes, it's hard for you to really step onto that tee and say, okay, I'm good. Because outside of the first hole, you take short cuts, because this golf course is basically parallel back and forth, back and forth. So you don't really see your playing partner that often and the rhythm of the game is totally different.

I think the boys are just happy to get this one over and done with. Rookies or no rookies you can be the most experienced player out there, you just want to get to the second day where you're playing your own ball and playing your own format and playing your own game.

Q. We have obviously the pairings in front of us for tomorrow. Fred, you kept two pairings together and Greg, you mixed yours up entirely for tomorrow. A general comment for each of you, just an outlook for what you've got tomorrow.

GREG NORMAN: Well, I felt like, with the fourball, it's like I just mentioned, it's the guys down to playing their game. I think we have a balance there where, if you look at my team, you've got Mike Weir and you've got a Tim Clark who are steady Eddie's, put it on the fairway. The golf course lends itself for this. And then you have the other guys who can get out there and just pound it down there and take advantage of it.

I don't know how the PGA TOUR staff is going to set up the golf course. I hope it's similar to what it is today. So we balanced it out there way. At the end of the day, I talked to all my guys, we brought them into a room privately and we talked to them and there wasn't one bit of a push back on any of the pairings.

So for us, it just played out pretty good, as well, with the way my boys wanted to play. And as it turned out, who we go up against, that's because it's a lot easier when you go second, I must say that, than when you put it down first.

FRED COUPLES: Well, I touched on it yesterday. All my guys but -- well, Anthony Kim has played in The Ryder Cup and now this, Sean O'Hair, it's his first time. Yesterday when we made the pairings and today we put Hunter and O'Hair together because they are friends.

Again, I'm not ever going to say it's easier pairing styles, but Greg has a bunch of new guys and he's got bombers and straight ball hitters. I have the same thing, but these guys are coming up to me and saying, hey at The Presidents Cup in Canada, which was two years ago, I played with Kenny Perry and we played really, really well. That's really all I need to hear and that's basically what I went by.

So Steve Stricker and Tiger want to play together. I really did not want to move Zach Johnson and Kenny Perry, because you've got a long hitter and another one, a straight and consistent player. But they wanted to change. So this is a fun event, I don't want six guys to play together every round -- and they all look great. Greg could make my pairings and think he's doing a horrible job and I can take his and think I'm doing a horrible job; they are still six great teams. It's not that difficult.

You could look at this and say, well, why did you put these guys. I mean, we got very lucky because we wanted Tiger to go at the end of the day, and I think it's going to be a made for heaven match with Ogilvy and Cabrera against Stricker and Tiger. It's just the way it works.

Q. I know you touched on this a little bit, Greg, but can you two describe the difference in the feeling in your gut before the matches kicked off, right before, during them, and when they were on the line; as the team captain, how you felt about it, the feeling you had inside.

GREG NORMAN: Well, as a player, when you walk to the first tee off the first hole of the first day of The Presidents Cup, there's a lot of stuff happening. It's a very small area and there's a lot of people there and they do a lot of things. You've got to have photographs and people shaking your hands and you've got two captains there and you've got assistant captains and everybody saying, you know, and you've got the caddies and you've got the players. So when you walk on the tees, it's a lot to really clear your mind, here we are.

Now if you're a veteran player and you've been in that heat of the battle and teed off in the last group of golf tournaments and gone on and done well with them, it's different. But when you're like an Ishikawa and he walks on the tee or a rookie walking on the first tee of a Presidents Cup, it's like, wow, okay, here we go.

And I watched my guys, because I know what that feeling is like when you get out of that golf cart and walk 40 yards to that tee. I don't care whether you're an American or an International player, it's a but of an awe-inspiring feeling in a lot of ways, and I was enjoying watching how each one of my players was approaching it.

And then once play started, I got into it right off the bat. I knew exactly where I was going to go. I was going to work between two holes back and forth so I could talk to the guys, especially on alternate-shot, that walk forward, so I could talk to them and see how they were feeling and what was going on. And the sixth hole I would be out in the middle of the fairway talking to the guys getting ready to hit their second shot. So it was a really good balance for me.

But it was tough. I'll be honest with you. Like I said before, it was very difficult, because we are competitors. We love to play golf still, and be able to be there on the sideline, totally powerless about doing things except giving a little bit of advice maybe, you know, about things, it's -- I haven't been there before.

So I'm glad the first day is over and done with, too. (Laughing).

FRED COUPLES: I'm the same way. And the advice thing, I don't know if I said this earlier. I gave Jay the advice, and I think Greg did, too, maybe not, but for the first hour or hour and a half, and then I took over and the matches started going the other way. So I flipped it right back, called the official, give it back to Jay.

I honestly -- and I was afraid to be up on the 17th tee, because it wasn't my advice. So basically I was hitting guys in the butt, telling them "great putt" or whatever and leaving them alone.

The first tee was nerve wracking, because President Bush was there, Barry Bonds was there, Jerry West was there. So I'm like, okay, they hit, I'm going to go take another picture with Greg. He's correct, it's a nail biting thing because we have 12 favorites, you know, and I have guys on their team; I really like Adam Scott. I was very happy with the way he played today. I certainly wish my guys would have beaten Adam.

But he's one of the few guys that I pay a lot of attention to throughout the year. Obviously Ernie Els; a lot of them. But the main thing about this is, like Greg said, the first day is over. I think it's going to be cake until Sunday, really. I know that's going to be the worst day ever for us is watching 12 matches go and we're trying to get to that magic number of points.

GREG NORMAN: And I didn't even assume control today. I gave it all to Frank, because I wanted to be into the players. I walked down the fairway with the players. I didn't ride the golf cart, very, very seldom, to get maybe to the 15th green when I needed to get there. But I walked everywhere. And I didn't want to have control. I was like Freddie, go pat them on the butt, great guys. I would like to see my captain there and know that he's really supporting me. And Frank Nobilo, they can go out there and get all the messages and stuff.

So whether I do the same thing tomorrow, I don't know. But that worked very well for me today.

LAURA HILL: Captains, have a good night. Thank you.

Captains Greg Norman & Fred Couples
Wednesday, October 7, 2009

LAURA HILL: I'd like to welcome Captains Greg Norman and Fred Couples. I think we will get right to the news at hand with the pairings. Give us your impression of how things have matched up and we'll skip right to questions.

GREG NORMAN: I actually thought from my perspective it went very, very well. I anticipated Freddie doing exactly what I would have done in the same situation. I think it's always good when you look all the way through to Sunday when you have that last card in your hand, so we anticipated that; and as for my team, I can only speak about that. My guys are very, very well balanced. They like the format. They like the golf course. The pairings, we talked about it last night, we were very open with the guys and get 100 percent support on the team for it.

As it played out, it is what it is. You've got 24 great players here. You can put them all in a hat together and pull them all out so you'll still have great matches, irrespective of how it makes out. As I said the other day, the ball is in their court and they are going to get to the first tee and just do what they love to do, play great golf.

FRED COUPLES: I agree totally. I think we went too fast in there. We came over here and you guys weren't even in the room yet. I agree with Greg. That was a lot of fun in there. He has so many guys that have played on a lot of Presidents Cup teams, as do I. I think for our guys, the alternate-shot, they basically came to me and told me who they wanted to play with, and that's how we did it.

Jay and I tried to match up a couple times that we could with Greg's team and he did the same with us and it looks like we both did pretty well. But again, it's easy, as he said, with 24 of the top players in the world, you're not going to get a bad pairing in The Presidents Cup.

Q. Did you have an instance where guys came up requesting the same partner, and if so, how did you deal with that?

FRED COUPLES: Same partner on my team?

Q. Like if Phil Mickelson and O'Hair both requested to play with an Anthony Kim or something like that.

FRED COUPLES: Well, we've been here 2 1/2 days and guys have been talking a lot. To be honest with you, Anthony Kim and Phil played at The Ryder Cup and enjoyed it, so that was a pretty easy one. We have two young guys, Hunter and Sean, who play a lot together. And the list goes on and on.

You know, Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard had a light game, so they have come to us, Jay and I, more about the best-ball. The alternate-shot I think is somewhere where people fit the schemes, one guy who drives it a long way, maybe not quite as straight, the other guy doesn't mind playing out of the rough; and then you get two guys like a Jim Furyk and a Justin Leonard who live and die by very consistent and solid play, they are a great team to put up.

Q. How quickly did this come together, were the decisions all made within the last couple of days or were there some input over the last few weeks? And for Greg, how much input did you take from your players about requests?

FRED COUPLES: Well, his is long -- for me, again, we have The Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, and he's going to answer his questions.

These guys have been, except for Sean O'Hair, and he's fitting in tremendously, but all of these guys have played a lot of golf together in big events, not on the PGA TOUR. So my pairings were very easy.

GREG NORMAN: And my pairings were, too. We had an Option A and an Option B. What I did early on about ten days ago, I e-mailed all my team members confidentially. I'm the only one who got the response. It's all confidential. And I asked six very pointed questions. I'm not going to tell you what those questions are, but I'm sure you can assume some of the content. And every one of my players came back to me with six very succinct answers, and those answers helped me and Frank Nobilo, and Frank Nobilo don't even know the answers to these questions, helped me formulate and understand the mind-set of this eclectic group of international players.

So that helped me tremendously. So I knew getting on the plane when I got the last e-mail back on Sunday, that I had a very, very good idea of who wanted to be with who. There's a difference between playing the alternate-shot and the fourball. Some people might like and enjoy relish playing against somebody. A lot of my guys play here on the U.S. Tour on a full-time basis and a lot of the guys are very good friends with a lot of guys on the U.S. tour, so you have to take those sensitivities into place; do you want to play a great friend of yours or do you want to play somebody you don't like.

So I had a very good understanding of where I was heading straight off the bat; a week ago, actually.

Q. Fred you had said that Tiger and Furyk would play together. Is that still in the works for later in the tournament? Or why did you end up with Tiger/Stricker? And just how much the course affected both of your decisions, how much do you consider the style needed at this particular course.

FRED COUPLES: Real quickly, Tiger and Steve both wanted to play together. They came way back at Liberty National which I believe was the first Playoff event and that was a given. They deserved that.

To answer your question, the course, I think Greg -- both teams have it very nice tomorrow. We are not playing at eight in the morning. They are great tee times today and tomorrow. So the course should be just like it is right now. So it will be not ridiculously long, but just long enough, and we feel like great iron play will be a key factor in this. Obviously putting is in any golf event, but the golf course is very nice and it's playing -- it's playing the same almost every day for our three days.

GREG NORMAN: Yeah, I agree 100 percent with Freddie. It is an iron player's golf course, and the rough is not that penal, so whether you're a power player or whether you're a steady player, you can get the club head through the rough very easily. Most of the greens, if you drive it in the rough, you can have access to the front of the green. So it's not that germane off the tee. So yeah the golf course is balanced. It really is. It's got good flow to it. The interesting part about it, the scorecard, if somebody tees off on the even holes tomorrow, they tee off on a lot of par 4s, so as Freddie said, you get down to the putting then, so somebody has to be making a lot of par putts. That one person. And then the golf course balance out, except for that one thing you have to take into consideration, that's up to the players and the teams now to figure that out for themselves.

Q. Your thoughts on pairing Geoff Ogilvy and Ishikawa.

GREG NORMAN: I asked Geoff, I went to him earlier in the week and I asked him, because he's one of the statesmen of the game. He is as consistent as you can get as a player. And I asked him, do you have any problems playing with Ryo. He said, I was going to tell you somewhere during the week before that I wanted to play with him, so that was an easy one.

Like Freddie, some of these pairings were predetermined because of the players, they want to play with their friends and they want to play with a like-minded player and they want to play with a guy with a similar golf ball. I would say 50 percent of our team picked themselves.

Q. And Fred, your thoughts on putting Woods and Stricker against Ogilvy and Ishikawa?

FRED COUPLES: Well what we were trying to do was put Tiger and Steve in the four or five slot and so then it just came down to really where Greg had put them up there and they went right in there.

So our guys, all of them, like Greg, asked a lot of questions, and we wanted guys where they would like to play. So we tried to get Hunter and Sean out, it's Sean's first Presidents Cup, get them out early so they are not looking at score boards, where emotionally guys are 2-up after four or down two after four. As for Tiger Woods, we felt like we wanted him in the four or five slot for today.

Q. Were there any -- you must have, over the weeks and months, been thinking about different things that the other team would do. Were there any surprises that Greg threw up, and vice versa; and Adam and Ernie, what was the motivation behind that?

FRED COUPLES: Well, real quick, for me, I've been on -- I've played against every one of their teams, most of them, except for probably -- well, Camilo, and I keep looking at him like he's a TOUR veteran, but for really, Ryo and Yang. I use the word easy. This was a no-brainer. He's got the greatest guys in the world, I have the greatest guys in the world. There's no animosity. They are going to grind it out and battle. I don't know if in eight Presidents Cups there's ever been any kind of problems. I'm certainly not going to let any happen.

But when we put our pairings up, we did it so quickly, I didn't look at Tim Clark who gets under his skin and that. These guys tell me where they want to play and it fit in there. Just like Anthony Kim and Phil want to play early and set a tone as best they can. And Tiger wanted to go in the middle. And I had four other groups I had to place in there as soon as he put his guys down.

GREG NORMAN: It's interesting what Freddie said about Anthony and Phil, because Mike and Tim wanted to get out in the first group, and then Mike definitely wanted to be the leader of the pack. He feels good about that. He wants to be out there going forward and keep going forward. So here our mindsets are exactly the same, the one pairing on each of the respective teams both wanted to go, so that's where they got.

And the rest -- none of my guys were concerned about playing anybody. We weren't sitting there going, okay, if this happens here, I want to play this guy. Because you really can't determine what Freddie is going to put up. And then we have a situation where Retief wanted to come in the fifth or sixth group, and same with Geoff Ogilvy. He wanted to play five or six. And so you have their wishes on where they want to play, who they play against really didn't matter.

As for Ernie and Adam, they are both great friends and they both wanted to play with each other. They have got compatible games in a lot of ways. Ernie used to play the Titleist ball and Adam plays the Titleist ball. So a lot of that comes into play. So that was a no-brainer for both of them. He said, "Look, I want Scotty." So if he wants Scotty, he's going to get Scotty.

Q. Other than Weir asking about leadoff, did any of the players on either team ask to face a specific player?

GREG NORMAN: Not on my team.

FRED COUPLES: Not on mine either, no.

Alternate-shot is a very -- we all know it's difficult, but it's an emotional thing, whereas Jay is not in here, but I played with Jay in The Ryder Cup, why I don't know; I drove it all over the lot, he's never been in the rough in his life. I've never hit 4-irons to par 4s, so, you know, I'm not going to pick on my guys this week and make those comments (laughter).

Greg will tell you where today is a day, like he said, for Mike Weir and Tim Clark to feel good. Anthony and Phil they just want to get out there. There are six teams and they will do their best to go to town and see how they do.

Q. Will it come to singles where guys say, I want to face so and so?

FRED COUPLES: An easy answer would be yes.

GREG NORMAN: Guys feel comfortable playing certain guys mano-a-mano. When alternate-shot, with a partner, it's a different thought process on how you go into that -- well, say rest of the 18 holes. So when you go up, like Freddie and I, we go up against each other, we know each other, we know how to play each other, we know our moods and mannerisms and speed of play so you can make that adjustment very, very quickly because of the history we have playing one-on-one. And one-on-one happens when you play on Saturdays and Sundays. So that definitely comes into play then.

LAURA HILL: Thank you for your time. Good luck tomorrow.

Captains Greg Norman & Fred Couples
Tuesday, October 6, 2009

LAURA HILL: I'd like to welcome Fred Couples and Greg Norman. It's been a long way since the 2008 announcement that you were both named captain. Maybe just give us some opening thoughts on what it's like to have this event finally arrive and then we'll open it up to Q&A.

GREG NORMAN: Well from my perspective, it's been a great two years. One of my team members just asked me walking around the golf course about 20 minutes ago, and I said the experience has been a tremendous experience, for a number of reasons.

The guy sitting to my right, number one, the way we started our journey together with the same attitude and philosophy really helped, and obviously when the week comes here and Thursday starts, we are going to be obviously more competitive and our spirits are going to be a little bit more competitive.

But the whole nature and demeanor of our approach to this Presidents Cup has been phenomenal. Both Freddie and I, I know we want to pass on the baton to the next captains with The Presidents Cup in a better position, so from my perspective, I've been extremely surprised at how easy it's been and how much I've enjoyed it .

LAURA HILL: Fred?

FRED COUPLES: Yeah, I love the last comment, the last line, how easy it's been. So far it's been a breeze. A couple speeches coming up I guess, huh.

For me, like Greg, we have great team players. We have great guys, a lot of guys, probably more so on my team have played in more Presidents Cups, so they know what's going on. We have hit on this a bunch.

He's got guys from other countries, other places, so it's a little more difficult. I think we all understand that. But for myself, my team is out there having a great time just like Greg had talked about his team enjoying it. The team room has been phenomenal. We have all been here only a day, but I've been here since Friday night with a couple of guys.

And just to end it quickly, I know it's just -- Thursday can't get here quick enough for me.

Q. Greg you had mentioned passing a Cup on or positioning the Cup for the next captain. Have you ruled out being captain beyond this year?

GREG NORMAN: No, I didn't say that. Somewhere down the line, somebody is going to be taking over as captain, whether it's 2011 or 2013, I have no idea. But if it is 2011, then again, I'll hand the baton onto somebody with The Presidents Cup in a better position. I've enjoyed it. If I get asked again, I would love to do it, but I have no control over that.

Q. The Adam Scott pick obviously has been mega-scrutinized. I was wondering whether in a way you were maybe trying to light a fire under him at all, and sort of what your thinking was there. I know you've almost got a mentor/pupil type relationship with him. If you can sort of discuss his addition to the team.

GREG NORMAN: Well, I had to be very careful with that, too, because I didn't want that to be over-analyzed, that one specific subject you mentioned that. But when you look at the five or six other players outside of Adam that were viable for that one spot, because I was always going to pick Ishikawa because of his performance over the last three months.

When you look at Adam in totality, not only his playability, but his compatibility with the other players. He's a great team member. If you ever get to see him connect with the players, like Fred says, in our team rooms, it just phenomenal.

So looking at that aspect, as well. Not saying the other guys wouldn't have been, but if you roll the clock back 11 months with Adam, he was the No. 3 player in the world and doesn't necessarily mean just because his golf game has gone away; it's because of his golf game, there could have been other things going on in his life that may have taken his mind away from it.

And sometimes, to me, a shot of confidence in the arm of an individual, just like giving him a spot, is what is necessary to turn him around. He's playing well, he's excited about being here, and he doesn't feel like there's any extra pressure on him.

You know, our position as captains, we have to make two picks, and there's going to be people who are upset and there's going to be people who probably expected to be on the team, but we had to make those decisions ourselves and we have to bear that responsibility when it comes our way.

Q. Can you talk about how the course is right now?

FRED COUPLES: It's beautiful. The weather's helped out tremendously, although it was windy again, being here Saturday and Sunday, there was a lot of debris around the greens, needles and things. But I think maybe they got out of the trees. And the greens were good. They are getting quicker and quicker every day. I think Greg was here, time flies, maybe within a month and he was giving me input, it's not nearly as bad as what people were saying.

Again, I've played two rounds, and if I can make putts, any of those other 24 other guys can surely make them.

GREG NORMAN: And I agree with Fred. They have done a great job of putting them in position. There's 24 players, and when you've got that light traffic going over the golf course, from the weekend to where we are now, it's easy for a golf course to come to life and it really has come to life.

I have not heard any complaints from my guys and I've been out there watching and Freddie has been playing, I haven't, but the ball seems like it's tracking beautifully on the greens and they have some speed to them. I think they will be consistent for the next five, six days.

Q. Fred, you've played on so many Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups, and had so many different captains, and I'm sure you picked up something from all of them, how would you describe your style?

FRED COUPLES: Well, my style is, about every three questions that I get, I answer one and I look to Jay to find out where we have to be and at what time. So very easy style. I mean, we all know that. I can't change, but you know, I can get -- I'm very -- not people, but with the other golfers, whether it's on Greg's team, too. I have competed as much against probably 80 percent of their team, and the hugs and kisses are fun, and I want them to all play well. I went up to Adam and had been texting Adam, telling him I'm very happy he made the team, because he's a good friend and I want to see him play.

But getting back to my team, to be honest with you, there's always 12 personalities, but on our team, there's really, you know, just a couple two or three guys that maybe won't get my sense of humor until tomorrow or the next day. But it's a very easy thing. They are all great guys and the pairings are going to be fairly simple. They are out there now mixing and matching and trying to see what would gel best.

But for me, again, it's an advantage, but they are still going to go play. My guys have been on -- I've been on a lot of teams and my guys have been on teams for the last 10, 12 years, and they have played with a lot of different players. I just have to figure the right two.

Q. Curious, your view of Tiger's attitude towards team events has evolved over the years. Seems like in the past it has not been that important to him and you played with him early on.

FRED COUPLES: I played with him three different Presidents Cups. It's hard to critique the best player in the world on every little thing that he does, and I think what happens is we have had some major talks about a lot of things with The Presidents Cup, and the easiest way to answer this is he's a team player. And I wasn't trying to tell him he can sleep in longer or he doesn't have to go here or there. Basically it was, I've been on these teams a lot, you've played with me; if I play well, the Tiger Woods part of it is probably going to get a point. And we beat Ernie Els and Vijay one year 7 & 6 in Australia. And when I played poorly, we don't win.

So my goal with him is to give him the best guy that feels comfortable so that they can perform, because Tiger is going to be there. I don't think in past Presidents Cups, I honestly think if you look at it, and Greg will attest, in all of the matches he's played, it's a lot of pressure. There will be the biggest galleries. And Tiger doesn't win or lose every match, but when Tiger plays well and the other guy doesn't, it's really hard to beat two guys, no matter who they are.

And he's into this. He's definitely pumped up and he is ready to go, and we'll see what happens, really, Sunday night.

Q. For Fred, there's two major format differences from The Ryder Cup: You hand-match the games as captains, and everybody plays the first day, no two years to make the team and then sitting out. Do you prefer this kind of a format?

FRED COUPLES: I think as a captain, it's much easier. As a player, it's the greatest setup ever, because like you said, it's very difficult to tell people not to play or to say, well, I'm trying to hide a player. They are all great players.

I mean, Greg may have someone with a little quirk with his back or I may have someone or maybe someone is not hitting it good. That's irrelevant. And they are also -- I've been on all of these teams, and The Ryder Cup, and there's families that get involved; you're not playing my nephew or my uncle or my son, and it's kind of like, wow, I want no part of that.

Whereas The Presidents Cup, everyone plays, they all love it. It's just a great format. Saturday, as you know, two guys will sit in the morning and two guys will sit in the afternoon, but that's understandable. You can't really throw everybody five rounds, to play four days and expect them to excel to their capabilities, so we will rest some choice guys. I'm sure Greg will, too.

Q. Your public announcement over the weekend, the separation, would you tell me how things will change for you generally, but does it also mean you might be playing more tournaments, as well?

GREG NORMAN: Well, first of all, about that, I'm not going to make any comment on that.

As for me playing more golf, pretty hard to make a comment on that with the surgery I just had a week ago on Wednesday.

FRED COUPLES: But we are playing in the Shark Shootout. Right? Don't be throwing me under the bus (laughing).

GREG NORMAN: Yes. We had kind of like a good agreement, Freddie and I, so I'm working my way back for the Australian Open and the Shootout which is a week afterwards. That's my schedule. That's my goal. There's a lot of rehab to take place between now and then, but I'm pretty confident that I'll be back hitting balls ten days before then.

Q. I think it's fair to say that The Ryder Cup never really captured the imagination of the public until the Europeans started winning it regularly. Do you feel like it's really important for your team to produce the goods this week for the sake of the competition?

GREG NORMAN: Well, I wouldn't say for the sake of the competition. I would say for the sake of the players, they really feel at times that their performance that they put up on the board, to not have a victory would be disappointing to them.

I think when I look back over the history of The Presidents Cup and where we as a team have got beaten is in the first day, is in the foursomes, or on Saturday morning in the foursomes. America has been very, very dominating in that department. So when we get behind the 8-ball, it's very hard.

If you look back, the singles matches, the last four groups are really playing for no reason, because it's over and done with. So I think from a player's perspective, they really want to get out there, and whether it's on American soil or whether it's on foreign soil, you want to get out there and you want to win.

And when you look at it, I talked to the guys, when you look at it on paper, these guys are champions. Every one of them are champions and they have won major championships, so they have the ability to do it. It's just a matter of, like Freddie touched on before, it's the team spirit and it's the really coming together of 12 players to do it.

I like the spirit. I've been on a few of the teams. I really like what I'm hearing and seeing in the locker room right now, and like Freddie says, come Sunday, we'll know. When Thursday comes, it's all up to the boys. We have done our job for the last, you know, 100 weeks or whatever it is, and now it's down to the boys to do their job. We'll see.

Q. Following up on that, the importance of the first day, do you plan to go top-heavy and put your best players out in the first matches to try to get the momentum going?

GREG NORMAN: Not necessarily. I'm not going to tell you what it's going to be anyway, but I believe that you've got to talk to your players and there might be a couple of players who would like to get out early, and you would be surprised of those players. They want to get out there and they want to get going, and some of them just want to wait and they want to come in at the end and carry the burden and win or to tie the match or take the lead.

It's interesting when you get 12 great players together, it's interesting to understand how each and every one of them think. You know, my dynamic, the dynamics that I have with the different nationalities, there's a lot more different personalities in those nationalities.

So to hear how the guys feel, and like to be there at the end for certain reasons; and they will tell you, I want this guy, or I don't want this guy, and I think that's a great attitude to have because they are very open about their approach to wanting to win this event.

Q. You've seen both competitions directly; how do you compare The Ryder Cup and The Presidents Cup, and the atmosphere, the feeling, the emotions, and is it even fair to compare the two?

FRED COUPLES: It's fair to compare the two. I mean, as Greg has said, our goal, you know, is to make it more fun, and I think what he means by that is for everybody. The fans, certainly, are coming out to watch. It's been a little bit odd that it's been in America more times than not. Now we are starting to move it around. So that's certainly going to help this scope of things.

But I mean, it's just one of those things where you'll see as Thursday goes along, the people watching, whether they are from San Francisco or America or they have come over from Australia or South Africa, everyone knows everyone at this event a lot better; although The Ryder Cup is changing -- meaning the players. Every time I go to a tournament I get paired with Goosen or Adam Scott or Vijay. So to get paired with them Thursday, the crowd senses no animosity, no hard feelings and they root just as hard.

As the week goes longer, it starts to turn towards the Americans way. But I tell you, you watch tomorrow, they will gently slide into this and they will start figuring out that we see Vijay every day on TV, but now he's going up against Americans, so we will calmly start to turn it the other way.

As far as the event itself, I think we have just as many tents, we have just as many people, we have the best players in the world. In my opinion, it's great for the Internationals because they deserve to play an event like this, and it's getting better for us, it really is.

First it was at RTJ and not moving around and now to come here and to go to Australia, those are the best moves The Presidents Cup can start making and get everyone involved, so it becomes The Ryder Cup, in due time. I don't want to embarrass myself, is this the eighth Presidents Cup? No. 8.

So I wouldn't say that's -- I've got kids, players on my team that have, players on my team that have kids that are eight years old and less. Some of them have been playing every year. It's easy, it's a fun event, not so grueling, you know, five-days of saying some word to someone and it gets blown out of proportion and they hate you. And then you go to Europe and they hate you. That's not going to happen. It's impossible. (Laughter). Correct? I mean, you guys have seen it. I love this format. It's a fun time to have between 24 guys.

Q. And Greg, The Ryder Cup, the nationalism, particularly by fans, is that going to happen with the International Team ever?

GREG NORMAN: You mean from a fan-based perspective?

Q. A guy misses a putt, he's going to hear about it for two years later.

GREG NORMAN: As far as I'm concerned, if I'm captain I wouldn't tolerate that. I think in the spirit of what the game of golf is all about, a very, very fair and even spirit. You can never stop people pulling hard for their country. You can't do that.

But as a captain, I would be discouraging guys to try and rub it in. And I think that's unfair to the game itself, as I said. I would never have guessed that and I think that's one of the things that Freddie and I have touched on, not that we have talked about it, but touched on the periphery of saying, let's make this fun for everybody and make sure we don't get this thing put into a box where it becomes such a vicious rivalry that you really can't pull yourself out of it.

The Presidents Cup is The Presidents Cup. I mean, you've got to honor the name of it, number one, and if you think of the President of the United States being out here, the respect that everybody has got to give the name of the Cup is probably the most appropriate way to look at it. And then the game of golf is right there, as well.

Q. A question for both of you, separately and one together, just Fred, if you can talk about Kenny Perry, the old guy and maybe sort of what his frame of mind is coming in here and what's been going on with him personally? And Greg, you have the young guy, Ishikawa, if you can talk about his frame of mind and your selection of him. And then together, if you would like to see those two paired off, I'm not suggesting any collusion, but have you thought about the youngest guy versus the oldest guy?

FRED COUPLES: I'm sure it will happen one of the days over the four days. Kenny has a big heart. His mother passed away last week. I tried to get in touch with him and texted him a couple of times. And he got me back that he's fine, and through the TOUR, that his family got together and wanted him to play. And he's here and as you know his son has been caddying for him lately.

He's in good shape. I watched him hit some balls. He's been trying to play a little bit. He came out yesterday because he's had a few days off. I don't know the right wording for this; he's fine, that's not a great word, but he's doing okay.

GREG NORMAN: I just want to touch on that, too. From my perspective when I heard about him, you want to make sure that Kenny is in a good place. The interesting thing about the game of golf is we are very much of a tight-knit community. And even though you spend a lot of time with the guys on the golf course, you may not spend a lot of time with them personally.

But when they go through a tough time like that, I made sure that I put a call into Kenny, because he needs to know that the game of golf comes second to your family, and Kenny is just a consummate guy, number one, and a consummate professional. And for him to be here shows the reflection he has for Freddie, number one, as well, but also to the game and what the Presidents Cup is all about.

So I'm glad he's here, and if he gets paired with Ishikawa, then, you know, it will be an interesting match up. My selection of Ishikawa was one that was very easy for me, to tell you the truth. This kid has got a lot of the right qualities that you see.

I secretly went and watched him practice at the British Open this year at Turnberry. I snuck in behind the gallery and I just stood there and he didn't know I was standing there, just to watch him, where the club was at the top.

And I always like to see a guy how he works on the driving range. If he's into it on the driving range, you know he's going to take that energy out on to the golf course. And he was so focused hitting balls, I was extremely impressed for a young guy, because a lot of things happen on the driving range at the British Open as Freddie knows. There's a lot of activity, a lot of cameras, a lot of people, and he was into his game. Technically, he looks great.

And then he started winning. So when you've got -- and he won last week. So he really stepped up to the plate. His English is excellent. He's very engaging with everybody and he wants to be included in everything. For a kid of his young age, he's got heaps of maturity about him. So I look forward to him just go out there and just play golf and just have fun.

Q. You alluded earlier to all of the personalities within the nationalities; is that a challenge to have that congeal into a team when you have so many different countries involved under your aegis as a captain?

GREG NORMAN: What's difficult is having the idle conversation. When you sit in a locker room with all one flag, you can talk about, what do you think about what the President is doing, what do you think about healthcare, or what do you think about sport, and what do you think about the playoffs, and you can really get a great connector going in that way.

From our perspective, my perspective, you just have to make sure that they feel included with everything. And when you have a conversation, you have to make sure that they know exactly what you're saying.

You would probably be surprised, some of them, you probably think they don't speak good English or they don't understand what's going on; these guys, they know what's going on. (Laughing) So it's very easy. My responsibility is to make them feel as comfortable as possible.

Fortunately I've been to just about every country that's on my team except Colombia and I had Camilo fly out with me and we spent five hours on the plane with his family and it was just phenomenal to hear what Colombia is all about. And President Clinton is a huge fan of Colombia in its own right, he wanted to go meet Camilo because of his connection with Colombia.

So it was just great to see that take place this morning and make Camilo feel really, I guess, grounded in a lot of ways that he would be able to have a conversation with a gentleman that just admires his country.

It's just getting down, and it's hard having that general conversation, but at the end of the day, including them all the time in everything.

Q. Your shoulder, the timing on the surgery I guess was the only time you could have had it; is it hurting you at all, and have you got any pain from that? I realize you're not playing, you're a tough guy, and it shouldn't be too bad. But how is it feeling?

GREG NORMAN: Well, it's progressively getting better. It's hard to sleep, obviously, because I have to wear this thing. I was trying to defer it until middle of January, but it got to a position where I couldn't do certain things with my arm. And it's just a degeneration of the joint, and it's called a slap tear, and if you ever want to know what that is, you can Google it.

I have a situation where anatomically, genetically, I'm in the 12 percent bracket where all of my sockets and my joints are just a little bit too big, so it just tears on the socket and the labrum. It was going to happen. And I had decided, I came back from Korea last week and Taipei and I just couldn't do anything, I couldn't sleep, and I said, I've got to do it. I just flew straight into Pittsburgh and had it done.

Timing is bad, obviously, but there's no good timing for it. I was thinking about the Shootout and Freddie and the events in January that I'd like to play in, so it was really looking that far ahead to make sure I had the time to recover.

Q. Greg spoke earlier about the U.S. dominance in The Presidents Cup. Because of that, and the fact that the U.S. won The Ryder Cup last year so impressively, I just wondered if you felt any added pressure of expectation as captain, despite your well-known, laid back, easy-going style.

FRED COUPLES: My expectations of the whole week is certainly for, a, my team to be prepared to play; b, have a good time playing; and then c, have an unbelievable match.

It has been sometimes, like Greg said, I mean, I didn't realize, up in Canada, we won five of the first six matches and tied the other one. It's -- my guys at The Ryder Cup last year, Paul Azinger did a phenomenal job and they got up early the first day and they stayed up.

As Greg has played and watched, even in match-play formats, you get behind, every putt is important. And when you get behind, every match is important. And when we were talking about where you put players, it doesn't really matter, because you come down the last four or five holes and your team is down a point and a half or two, every 4-footer makes it three points.

So there's a lot going on in your mind and there shouldn't be. So we need to be ready to go on Thursday and I know the guys are. And as Greg said, we will make the pairings and then they will go play, and they will do the best they possibly can.

Have we won a few Presidents Cups? Sure. A long time ago. Did we win the last Ryder Cup? Yeah. I have pretty much the same guys on my team. I'm hoping they have a good time and play well. That's about all I can ask for.

GREG NORMAN: Just touching on what Freddie was saying, in this format, I think in match play, or in a team competition like this, it's easier to protect the lead than chase one down. When you play stroke play and you're five or six back in the last round you can actually let it go a little bit and the consequences are either you are going to get there or you are not. So you can bury yourself in obscurity if you don't make it.

But here it's difficult if you are that far down to rev it up and come from behind. It's happened in The Ryder Cup, Ben Crenshaw, they came storming back from just about no where. But it's very difficult to do that and it's a lot easier to protect the lead.

So if you've got quality players like that, they know how to block out things and stay in front. That's why it's been tough for us to really come back as a team from some of the trouncings in the foursomes, like in Montróal.

Q. Apparently since THE TOUR Championship, Phil has had some back issues, can you update us on that, and might that cause you to sit down him on Saturday perhaps?

FRED COUPLES: Well, there's a great question. He's going to play nine holes today, and then I believe get a little treatment and then he's going to be ready to go on Thursday.

No, he did tweak his back, and he called me, and it was a pretty funny conversation, because he said, "Is Tom Boers going to be there. "

And I said, "Why do you ask that"?

He said, "I'm just curious."

I laid into him, "This is the biggest week of my life, you've got to tell me what's going on."

So Tom came to see him and got him going and Greg and I have both worked with Tom and he's a miracle worker. He looked good on the range. He's going to play nine for precaution and come out and play nine tomorrow, which a lot of guys may only play nine and hit a few balls.

I don't see it as a problem. I have to get through Thursday with Phil before I get to Saturday. I know he's going to tell me if he wants to play both matches, but it just depends. As of now it was a little bit of a concern until I physically saw him on the range today. Anybody's going to tell you they're doing good. You have got to watch them though.

Q. Can you offer anymore specifics on what Michael Jordan's role is going to be this week?

FRED COUPLES: First of all, his role is he's out there walking around with some guys right now while we're in here. He knows a lot about sports and he's talking a lot about sports. And Greg hit it right on the button. I can only imagine their locker room -- I'm not going to say it's harder, but there are guys on his team, he mentioned Camilo; I asked Joey to go caddie for Camilo. Adam Scott is one of my all-time guys. With Michael, he has touched everybody so far in just a fun way.

His role is, we all respect him. I think Greg knows everything about Michael, so does his other team. He'll be doing stuff, talking to them, having fun.

But basically, it's my way of saying thanks. Just like President Clinton coming out today. I mean, these guys love golf and they come out here to spend the day with us; Michael's been to several Ryder Cups, overseas. He's getting ready to go to the next Ryder Cup. He's talking about it, I believe it's in Wales. So this guy is a world-class traveler and I thought it would be nice of me to ask him to come.

So his role is to have fun with the guys. That's it. He's certainly not telling them how to hit a chip shot, that I can promise you. (Laughter).

Q. Usually the captains want to free everything up for the player, so they don't have to worry about anything but their game. But with you being in the news with your shoulder and your announcement last week, have the players lent support or attention to you in any way?

GREG NORMAN: We haven't even talked about it. We talked about my shoulder, absolutely. It's pretty hard to ignore that. But at the end of the day, somebody's private life is their private life. They respect that.

So they just come in, knowing this is all about the Presidents Cup. This has nothing to do about me. Just because I'm the captain of the team, it's all about the team. And I'm making sure they know that. I'm never going to put anybody else in any other position, outside the 12 players are ahead of everybody.

They know what their responsibilities are this week. My guys know that they want to win. I put a lot of good energy into their team room by some of the visual things that they see and they have given great feedback from that. So it's all about The Presidents Cup, not about anything else.

Q. Just to clarify, you expect to be healthy for the Australian Open?

GREG NORMAN: Yes, I'm absolutely targeting that. That will be my warm up for my partner to my right.

Q. I'm sure you've spoken to some of the veteran players about reasons the International Team has not had more success. Have they been able to pinpoint anything or is it just a case of the players have not produced the goods on the weeks at hand?

GREG NORMAN: When you get right down to it, it's foursomes. As simple as that. When you look at what happened to us at Royal Melbourne in '98, I believe it was, when you look back to that, it was like we did very well in the opening day. We held our own going through there, and it's amazing the difference in energy level when you pull through a tough day like that.

The hardest thing Frank Nobilo and I have had to do is figure out, how do you balance these guys out in that type of format in true alternate-shot or true foursome, because the dynamics of my team is again, a little bit more different than Freddie's team, because there's a lot of variables in the styles of play.

So when you look at Harding Park, you have got to look at this as a golf course that really suits the guys who get it out there a long way. So to balance my guys out is an interesting process to say the least.

But I've included many of them in on the process, which is great. But I'm the one who has to finally make the decision on them.

Q. How does your style differ from past Presidents Cup captains, and do the young guys who are playing in this event for the first time, or maybe the second time, can they inject some energy into your team?

GREG NORMAN: I think because I'm still a current player in a lot of ways, and I still compete, and when the players see that you're still very much involved in the game of golf, whether it's going to the first tee and playing or doing well in a major championship or being involved in some other way; the connection is incredible.

Ryo and Y.E. Yang have been two of the nicest guys to get to know. They just have the utmost respect for everybody in the room, and they show it, too. That's just an incredible amount of maturity on both parts. Y.E. is a lot older than Ryo, and it's great to see that type of connection. Ryo just turned 18. And you put them up against some of the ages of the guys on our team, it's pretty hard to talk about what happened 35 years on the golf course.

But he gets them. He's a very young historian in a lot of ways. So that makes the job a lot easier. He really has not shied away from anything. They accept my style of captaincy as being very much hands-on. I have gotten numerous e-mails from my guys all the way through saying this has been the best preparation -- the guys who have played before -- the best they have ever seen a Presidents Cup be prepared for them as players.

That's encouraging in its own right, because as a player, I understand what I would like to have happen, and you structure things around those thoughts to make it easier for them. And they see it and they really appreciate it.

LAURA HILL: Captains, thank you. We'll see you tomorrow for the pairings.

Transcript courtesy of ASAPSports.