Victorian Marc Leishman will make his first Presidents Cup appearance in October after International team captain Nick Price made him one of his Captain&aposs picks for the tournament at Muirfield Village, Ohio in October. Leishman and Zimbabwe&aposs Brendon De Jonge were the selected pair for the International Team while Webb Simpson and Jordan Spieth got the nod from U.S captain Fred Couples. Yesterday was one, probably one of the toughest days of my life, Price said. I had it down to three guys – Marc, Brendon and Tim Clark. To try and separate the three of them and only pick two was an exceptionally difficult task. You had experience on one hand with Tim, and then you had youth in the two rookies in Marc and Brendon. When push came to shove, it came down to who I felt is going to play Muirfield the best. This is one of those times when you wish there were 13 members of the team. The International Team will have seven first-time players, the most in Presidents Cup history, after Price picked two rookies. Leishman, 29, has top-12 finishes at this year s Masters (T-4), PLAYERS Championship (T-8) and PGA Championship (T-12). Those finishes prompted Price to call Leishman “a guy who is on the rise.” He also finished 16th at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Leishman was in attendance at Royal Melbourne in 1998, when the International Team won for the only time in Presidents Cup history. The Presidents Cup began in 1994. “I&aposve played in some big events this year and feel like I played pretty well around (Muirfield Village), so I feel like I&aposm a seasoned match player,” Leishman said. “I haven&apost played it for a few years, but played it quite a bit at home in Australia as an amateur growing up, so hopefully I can use my experience in that.” De Jonge, 33, is No. 26 in the FedExCup after finishing 19th and ninth in the first two Playoffs events, The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship. Price also said de Jonge&aposs left-to-right ball flight is well-suited for Muirfield Village. De Jonge and Price are both from Zimbabwe. “This was obviously the primary goal starting out last year was to make thsi team, and especially playing for Nick,” de Jonge said. “Nick has been everything to us growing up in junior golf in Zimbabwe., and now to have an opportunity to play for him is definitely a dream come true.” Spieth will become the youngest player in history to represent the United States at the tournament. He will also be the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to qualify for the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola after starting the season without status; Spieth is the first player to accomplish that feat in the FedExCup era. He also will be the youngest player ever to qualify for the TOUR Championship.
Author: Presidents Cup