Price revs up stars
INTERNATIONALS captain Nick Price has urged Adam Scott and Jason Day to fire up their lacklustre seasons and arrive at next month’s Presidents Cup ready to end the American dynasty.
With Australian stars Day and Scott winless in 2017, the pair have slid down the world rankings but remain in second and third place, respectively, on the Internationals team standings behind Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
The Internationals team is comprised of the top-10 golfers in the world who are not eligible for the Ryder Cup, two captain’s picks and will be announced on September 6.
With the Internationals tasting victory just once (1998) in 11 previous Cups, three-time major winner Price is desperate to lead his men to glory at New Jersey’s Liberty National from September 26. But he needs his big guns to fire.
Of the top-five Internationals — Matsuyama, Day, Scott and South Africans Charl Scwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen only world No.3 Matsuyama has won in 2017.
Nine of the top 12 players on the US team standings have won on the US PGA Tour.
“The top five on our team haven’t played their best in recent months ... hopefully they’ll start really getting their games into shape now,” said Price at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.
“There’s so much to play for between now and the Presidents Cup.”
Zimbabwean Price and assistant captain Ernie Els are the only members of the extended 2017 Internationals team who have played on a winning Presidents Cup team.