U.S. Team Captain Fred Couples. (Jim Doeden/Flickr)
Editor’s note: These are real quotes and comments. The questions are made up. Welcome to the ARMCHAIR GOLF roundtable.
At the roundtable:
Greg Norman – International Team Captain
Fred Couples – U.S. Team Captain
Q. Greg, welcome to the roundtable. Let’s start with you since Fred is running a few minutes late. Obviously, you have a lot of diverse interests. How does this Presidents Cup captaincy fit in with everything else, including all the distractions?
GREG NORMAN: I’m a very intense person. When I go after something, I want to go after it with everything I have. I want to push myself to the edge.
Q. The International side hasn’t fared well in the Presidents Cup. The Americans have won six of seven. Do you feel like your guys need some things to break your way early in the week in order to win?
GREG NORMAN: You create your own luck by the way you play. There is no such luck as bad luck. Fate has nothing to do with success or failure, because that is a negative philosophy that indicts one’s confidence, and I’ll have no part of it.
Q. Here’s Fred. Welcome to the roundtable. You’re apparently confident about this week. Where does that come from?
FRED COUPLES: When you’re prepared, you’re more confident. When you have a strategy, you’re more comfortable.
Q. Greg, you’ve put a lot of yourself into this team and this week. How will you deal with it if you come out on the wrong end of things?
GREG NORMAN: Sometimes things work out on the golf course and sometimes they don’t. Life will go on.
Q. Fred?
FRED COUPLES: Getting nothing is not the end of the world. I’ve gotten my share. So I’m tickled pink just to be here.
JOHNNY MILLER: Match play really exposes your character, who you are and how much of a will to win you have in your heart. It also exposes what kind of weaknesses your game has.
Q. Hi, Johnny. I didn’t see you come again. Thanks, guys, for taking the time, and good luck this week.
–The Armchair Golfer
Other ARMCHAIR GOLF roundtables:
Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo
Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson
(Source: The Gigantic Book of Golf Quotations, published by Skyhorse Publishing.)
Go Boom! Boom!
Please tell Johnny Miller to stop calling players short, small,etc; it's demeaning. Barb McCrobieskippy