Ernie Els finalized his coaching roster for the 2019 Presidents Cup Tuesday ahead of the matches in Melbourne Australia.
Els announced the addition of K.J. Choi (Korea), Mike Weir (Canada) and Trevor Immelman (South Africa), rounding out the four assistant spots having already selected Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy.
Getting representatives from all over the world was important for Els, who also indicated he’s going to lean heavily on statistics when it comes to selecting the pairings and creating a strategy against the Americans.
“I’ve seen what other captains have done in the past,” Els said. “In this instance, I really wanted to try and start a new thinking process around the pairing system. I’m using a lot of data, a lot of science into what we’re going to be doing in December in Australia, and I wanted to get guys who have played a lot of Presidents Cups like myself.”
Weir is the most experienced of the assistant group with a 13-9-2 record in five appearances from 2000-09. Choi compiled a 6-8 record in three Presidents Cup appearances, Ogilvy was 7-6-1 in three showings and Immelman was 1-6-1.
Els appeared in eight Presidents Cups from 1996-2013, going 20-18-2.
“We’ve got almost every continent covered with these four guys,” Els said. “So that’s basically why I chose these guys, and we really need to change things up from previous Cups. And I wanted them to buy into this new formula and make them take this formula forward.”
He and his assistant captains will be trying to break a losing streak dating back to 1998, when the International team scored its lone victory at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. The Americans have won seven consecutive cups, including a blowout 19-11 win under captain Steve Stricker in the 2017 matches at Liberty National.
Tiger Woods will captain the U.S. squad for the first time in his career and is hoping to contribute as a playing captain.
