|
All but one of the players currently in the
U.S. team will play the Tiger Woods-hosted Hero World Challenge
in the Bahamas the week before.
Even though the exclusive 18-man Bahamas event in Albany will
finish on Saturday to accommodate the long trip, the Americans
will not arrive in Australia until Monday morning, three days
before the start of the biennial event on Dec. 12.
Local time at Royal Melbourne will be 16 hours ahead of Bahamian
time.
The bulk of the Hero Challenge field was announced on Wednesday,
and includes confirmed Presidents Cup players Dustin Johnson,
Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Webb Simpson,
Matt Kuchar and Bryson DeChambeau.
World number one Brooks Koepka is the only player in the
American Presidents Cup team not competing in the Hero
Challenge.
By contrast, none of the International players will be in the
Bahamas and many are taking part in the Australian Open in
Sydney.
Woods will captain the American team. He still has four wildcard
picks to complete his line-up, and he could use one on himself.
Others likely to be considered include Tony Finau, Rickie
Fowler, Kevin Kisner and Gary Woodland.
The Ernie Els-captained International team might need all the
help they can get to upset the Americans, who have dominated the
event since its inception in 1994, losing only once.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Ed
Osmond)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
