Fred Couples
It's hard to believe, but 2011 is well underway and The Presidents Cup in November will be here before we know it. There's a lot of work to be done between now and then. This year's matches in Australia will provide some new challenges, mainly trying to beat the International Team and Captain Greg Norman on his home turf, but it will be nice to draw on the positive experiences from Harding Park in 2009.
I'm in Hawaii for two weeks to kick off the Champions Tour season. Last week was the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, where I made my Champions Tour debut last year, and even though I didn't win, it was one of the most memorable weeks of the year. Any time you get to compete head-to-head with Tom Watson down the stretch of a golf tournament, you know it's going to be fun (and doing so in Hawaii is always a bonus). I've played in just a couple of events since the Charles Schwab Cup last fall, so I'm ready for the 2011 season to start.
This week is the Champions Skins Game over on Maui, which should be a fun, laid-back couple of days. I'm partnering for the second-consecutive year with my good friend Nick Price. We'll do our best to get the better of Watson and Jack Nicklaus, who won the event last year. The other two teams are Ben Crenshaw/Fuzzy Zoeller and Bernhard Langer/Mark O'Meara.
I haven't finalized my early-season schedule beyond next week, but I'd like to mix in some PGA TOUR events this spring before the Masters. I still enjoy playing on the TOUR as long as I'm competitive, plus it gives me the opportunity to talk and interact with the guys who will eventually make up the U.S. Team this November.
I will let you know as my schedule comes together.
Even though it's early, I'm excited with the U.S. Team rankings as they stand right now. I think we've got a nice mix of veterans, guys like Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and of course, Tiger Woods, along with some younger guys. I was impressed with how Rickie Fowler, Jeff Overton and Matt Kuchar handled themselves in their first international competition at last year's Ryder Cup, so we should have a nice mix. It will be interesting to see how things develop throughout the year.
There's a lot of work to be done, but I'm excited about my second turn as captain of the U.S. Team. I'll do my best to keep all of you updated with how the preparations are going over the next 10 months.
Until next time...
