Final Preparations Underway On Eve Of Presidents Cup

Editor's note: International Captain Greg Norman and his U.S. counterpart Fred Couples will be writing blogs periodically in advance of the 2011 Presidents Cup. Here is Norman's final installment.

November 4, 2011

Hello everyone! It’s certainly hard to believe, but it’s time for our last of these updates as we are quite literally on the eve of The Presidents Cup 2011. By the time you are reading this, I will either be en route to Australia or already there to begin preparations.

Norman: "It has been a pleasure keeping you abreast of the goings on over the last 12 months and sincerely hope you enjoy the world-class golf that will be on display at The Presidents Cup."

First on the agenda is next week’s Australian Open at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney. On a personal level, I’m most excited to return to competitive golf after a long layoff due to shoulder surgery back in Feb. It has been nearly a year since my last competitive rounds at the 2010 Franklin Templeton Shootout and I can’t wait to get the competitive juices flowing again. The week will also serve me well in my role as Captain of the International Team, as a number of my players are in the field. You can bet I will keep a keen eye on how Adam Scott, Jason Day, Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley and Robert Allenby perform this week. There are a number of players on the United States squad competing as well, along with Captain Couples, so Australian golf fans are certainly in store for two great weeks of action.

Speaking of Adam Scott, I spoke to him earlier this week after he had a chance to spend Sunday and Monday at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club getting in some early work. He gave me a detailed report and it sounds like the venue is rounding into championship shape, and despite a good bit of rain this week, will be in peak condition for the competition. It’s a wonderful test and I know it will be a most worthy venue for The Presidents Cup.

Like I’m sure many of you were, I was disappointed to learn this week that Michael Jordan will be unable to serve as a Captain’s Assistant to Fred at The Presidents Cup due to his obligations with the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats. He brought so much to Fred’s team and the matches as a whole at Harding Park in 2009 and he will be sorely missed. That being said, I thought Fred’s decision to appoint John Cook as a Captain’s Assistant was most appropriate. John and I have been good friends for a long time, back to our days on TOUR beginning in the early 1980s, and I know he will be a valuable asset to Fred and his team.

I’ve been in constant contact with my own Captain’s Assistants, Frank Nobilo and Tim Clark, over the last couple of weeks as we make our final preparations for The Presidents Cup. They have both been invaluable resources and I will continue to lean on them for their assistance and counsel as the matches draw closer.

With the matches now little more than a week away, the anticipation is truly reaching a fever pitch. After splitting my time this week focusing on my own game along with the performance of my players, I will fully switch to Captain’s mode once we arrive in Melbourne.

It has been a pleasure keeping you abreast of the goings on over the last 12 months and sincerely hope you enjoy the world-class golf that will be on display at The Presidents Cup. All the best.

Comments