Hamilton has players on both Presidents Cup teams
Australian Steven Bowditch and Chris Kirk are teammates of a sort on the PGA Tour. They both are coached by Cartersville Country Club’s Scott Hamilton (photo) and are affiliatiated with the Cartersville-based Scott Hamilton Golf Academy.
Tuesday, Bowditch was made a Captain’s Pick by Nick Price for the Presidents Cup International team giving Hamilton a player on each of the opposing sides. Kirk had already nailed down a spot on the USA team via the FedExCup standings.
Bowditch, 32, missed earning an automatic spot on the International team by only .0098 points in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Bowditch could have clinched his spot at the Deutsche Bank Championship, but missed the cut and Danny Lee slipped passed him to 10th in the rankings. He anxiously awaited Price’s phone call, but was rewarded with the Captain's Pick.
South Korea’s Sang-Moon Bae was captain Nick Price’s other pick. Chris Kirk, another Scott Hamilton Golf Academy player, will be on Team USA at the Presidents’ Cup October 8-11 at the Jack Nicklaus Club Korea. Kirk, who grew up in Woodstock, GA, played his high school golf at Etowah High School and collegiately at the University of Georgia. Kirk qualified for Team USA via FedExCup points. Kirk has battled a recent injury, but clinched the final automatic team berth despite missing the cut at the Deutsche Bank Championship last week. Team USA captain, Jay Haas, selected his son Bill Haas and Phil Mickelson with his two captain’s picks. The younger Haas finished one spot out of the automatically qualifying top ten. The selection of Mickelson extends his streak of having played in every Presidents Cup since it began.
The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the U.S. in a similar but considerably older event, the Ryder Cup.
The Presidents Cup has been held biennially since 1994.
USA INTERNATIONAL
Jordan Spieth Jason Day Bubba Watson Louis Oosthuizen
Jimmy Walker. Adam Scott
Zach Johnson Hideki Matsuyama
Jim Furyk Branden Grace
Rickie Fowler Marc Leishman
Dustin Johnson Anirban Lahiri
Patrick Reed Charl Schwartzel
Matt Kuchar Thongchai Jaidee
Chris Kirk Danny Lee Phil Mickelson Steven Bowditch
Bill Haas Sangmoon Bae Scott Hamilton is the Director of Golf at Cartersville Country Club. His Scott Hamilton Golf Academy is based out of the Cartersville facility. Hamilton is coach to many prominent professional golfers on four different major tours -- PGA Tour, Champions Tour, WEB.com Tour, and LPGA.
For more on the Presidents’ Cup selections see:
Sean Martin, PGATOUR.com
Doug Ferguson, Associated Press http://www.pga.com/news/pga-tour/chris-kirk-makes-first-us-presidents-cup-squad
Nicole Jeffery, The Australian http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/golf/bowditch....
