Three-time major champion Nick Price of Zimbabwe has criticised International captain Gary Player of South Africa for a last-minute offer of an assistant captaincy at last month’s Presidents Cup.
The former world number one was upset at an 11th-hour move that ended up with Australian Ian Baker-Finch repeating as Player’s assistant for the global squad, which lost to the United States.
”He tried to get hold of me the night before he announced the team. That’s not the right thing to do,” Price said in Florida at the PGA event last weekend at Disney World.
”Then he threw me under the bus in the media, saying, ‘I’ve tried to get hold of Nick and he’s refused to do it.’ He had four or five months to ask me and if he had asked me earlier I probably would have [said yes].”
Player has also been criticised by Aussie Mark Hensby, a member of the International squad, who said Player was out of touch with team members and made some dubious choices in pairings.
South African Trevor Immelman, one of Player’s captain’s picks, was rated 21st among those eligible for the squad and went 1-3 after his controversial selection to a squad lacking any Asian talent.
Price pitched Aussie legend Greg Norman as the choice for Internationals captain in 2007 when the event will be played at Montreal.
Norman will be 52 for that event, the same age Price will be in 2009 when the Cup returns to a US site.
”He’s a little older than me and out of respect he should be the next one to be asked,” Price said. ”I would feel a little uncomfortable if they asked me ahead of him. He put a lot into the Presidents Cup and he’s done a lot for international golf.” — Sapa-AFP