Good Day, mate: Els picks Aussie to face Tiger’s team

Ernie Els opted on Thursday for the experience of Jason Day and Adam Hadwin alongside rookies Im Sung-jae and Joaquin Niemann as he made his Internationals Team Presidents Cup captain’s picks to face Tiger Woods’s Team USA in December.

The Internationals will tee off at Australia’s Royal Melbourne from December 12-15 against a star-studded US captained by Woods, who is expected to pick himself when he unveils his four wildcards on Friday.

“It was very difficult for me, but I needed guys in solid form,” Els, speaking from Beijing, said.

“That’s why I went for these four guys who are very consistent and strong under pressure.

“I’m really excited by the new blood that’s come in and we have experience too.

“I think it balances things really well,” the four-time major winner said.

Australia’s former world number one Day will feature in his fifth Presidents Cup despite having seen his ranking slip to 29th, while world number 44 Hadwin will make his second appearance after his debut in 2017.

South Korea’s exciting 2019 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Im and Chile’s Niemann have been in spectacular form. Both will make their Presidents Cup debuts.

Im, 21, tied for third with Rory McIlroy two weeks ago at the Zozo Championship in Japan, won by Woods, and the world number 34 followed up with tied 11th at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai on Sunday.

Niemann, ranked 54, became the first player from Chile to win on the PGA Tour when he triumphed at the Greenbrier

in September. Li Haotong of China, Taiwan’s CT Pan and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer will make debuts as automatic qualifiers together with SA’s Louis Oosthuizen and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.

Day joins the already-qualified Australian Cameron Smith, making his first appearance, and seasoned compatriots Marc Leishman and Adam Scott.

The Internationals have won only once in the event’s 25-year history — in Melbourne in 1998, captained by the late Peter Thomson.

The Americans boast world number one and four-time major winner Brooks Koepka, along with fellow top-10 players Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau plus Webb Simpson (ranked 11) and Matt Kuchar (22).