Couples Explains Captains Picks as Bradley Could still be Option

After Fred Couples announced who he had chosen for his second captains pick for the 2011 Presidents Cup team. Many thought Keegan Bradley would get the nod over Bill Haas.

Haas, of course won the Tour Championship as well as the FedEx Cup a few short days before the picks were made.

Where as Bradley has two wins including his come from behind playoff victory at the PGA Championship in August.

Some though that Bradley would have been the better pick over Haas and vise-versa.

After the picks were announced, Couples had this to say about going with Haas over Bradley.

"Well, I mean, Jay is on the line, so Jay and I talked about this scenario, and Michael Jordan. We went over this probably a month ago and the way for us to do this was really to let the guys play.""I know Greg [Norman] said he told Geoff Ogilvy and some guys that Tiger is on the team. Bill Haas knew he had to win last week, and he did it."

"I talked to Bill -- I did not bother him during the tournament. I think he's smart enough to know that what happened, happened."

Couples would then go on to speak about Keegan Bradley and that circumstance and what he told him could happen if Steve Stricker is unable to go by the time November rolls around.

"Keegan Bradley, I think the world of Keegan and I explained a lot of things to him. He's a great young player. If Steve Stricker is hurt, Keegan will be the pick to take Steve's spot."

"And that's not very easy to say or makes him feel any better."

When Couples was asked about not choosing Bradley and how he reacted since he's the only American player to win a major this year, Couples explained his decision.

"Yeah, he's the only American with a major the last two years. You know, I tried to explain just a few things to him. He'll tell you, I'm not one to say, hey, you're going to be on plenty of teams."

"I wouldn't want to hear that. I know he's a young player. I just felt like -- I laid it out on the line and told him, you know, for really, three or four weeks now, where everyone stood."

"Obviously he's a major winner. Also a winner at the Byron Nelson under very tough conditions on a very hard course."

"I just felt that Bill Haas has played two years, never been outside the top-12 position. He's been inside the top-10 most of the time. And you know, if Keegan would have finished fourth or fifth last week and Bill would have lost to Hunter Mahan, the other assistants will tell you that Keegan would have been chosen."

So Couples did a pretty good job of explaining and almost defending the other captains pick of Bill Haas over Keegan Bradley this week.

With the health of Steve Stricker still unknown at this time. There is still a chance for Bradley to make it on to the U. S. squad.

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