Stricker: US players to stand for national anthem at Presidents Cup
American players will stand when the national anthem is played ahead of this week’s Presidents Cup, captain Steve Stricker has said.
NFL teams responded to criticism from United States President Donald Trump over the weekend, with many players kneeling during the anthem and three teams remaining in the locker rooms. But, after consulting his players ahead of the biennial team event, of which Trump is honorary chairman, Stricker said there would be no such scenes before play gets under way at Liberty National tomorrow.
“There were no issues on our part,” Stricker said in quotes reported on ESPN.COM. “We had a good talk and we all realised that there are things going on in the world that aren’t right 0 Steve Stricker: ‘We want to show our support for the flag’. but we wanted to show our support for the flag.
“It was up to them. It was a good discussion what we should do. I just wanted to know what they wanted to do and how we wanted to proceed as a team. We are going to do what we always do and that’s take off our hat and put our hands across our chest and over our heart and respect the flag. So that’s what we’re planning on doing.”
Trump described players who had knelt or raised fists for the Star-spangled Banner over perceived racial injustice as “sons of b ****** ’’ and suggested they should be fired. Rather than deter players, there were widespread protests, with over 20 players kneeling at Wembley before the Jacksonville Jaguars’ win over Baltimore Ravens. Tournament host Lee Westwood admits he is flattered and surprised by the strength of field he has been able to attract for this week’s British Masters.
Rory Mcilroy’s late entry has given a further boost to the event at Close House, which features the likes of Masters champion Sergio Garcia, Danny Willett, Martin Kaymer, Graeme Mcdowell and Ian Poulter.
“It means a lot,” said Westwood, who is following in the footsteps of Poulter and Luke Donald in hosting the £3 million tournament. “I don’t know whether it’s me, the reason why the players have turned out, but if it is, then that’s fantastic.
“Sergio doesn’t play in Britain very often, but committed so far in advance so we could use him in the promotion of the event.
“I asked Rory at Sergio’s wedding, when we’d had a couple glasses of wine, and he said if he didn’t get to the Tour Championship he would think seriously about playing here and it’s great he’s turning out. He’s oneofthefewplayersinthe world that I would turn out at a tournament to watch. It’s one of the strongest fields we’ve had all year on Tour I think. I can’t believe how good a field it is.”
Westwood is one of the few players in the field to have experience of the course on the outskirts of Newcastle and the former world No 1 also comes into the week in good form. He was third in the KLM Open a fortnight ago and said: “I feel like maybe a win is just around the corner. It would be great if it was here this week but whenever it comes it will be fantastic.” l After years of being overlooked, former world No 1 Ian Woosnam has finally been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Woosnam, 59, climbed to the top of the rankings in the week he won the Masters in 1991 and remained there for 50 weeks.
The Welshman represented Europe in eight consecutive Ryder Cups and captained the side to a record nine-point victory at the K Club in 2006.
Woosnam is joined in the Class of 2017 by Davis Love III, Meg Mallon, Lorena Ochoa and the late Henry Longhurst.