This Week in Golf - October 8th through October 11th

Couples, who is assisted by Sunday's Senior Players Champion Jay Haas and a fella named Michael Jordan, has a loaded team. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Kenny Perry, Zach Johnson, British Open champion Stewart Cink, Sean O'Hair, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim and Justin Leonard made the squad on points. For the second consecutive Presidents Cup, U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan were captain's picks.
Norman, aided by Golf Channel's Frank Nobilo, doesn't have bums on his side. Geoff Ogilvy, Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Masters winner Angel Cabrera, Mike Weir, Robert Allenby, PGA Champion Y.E. Yang and Tim Clark earned the 10 automatic spots. Norman went outside the box in selecting 19-year-old Ryo Ishikawa and a horribly-slumping Adam Scott.
Two years ago in Canada, the U.S. cruised to its fifth Presidents Cup title. Armed with a seven-point lead heading into the singles, the U.S. only earned five points in the 12 singles, but it was enough to make it two in a row.
The highlight of the singles session was Canadian hero Mike Weir knocking off world No. 1 Tiger Woods, 1-up. Since captains can basically fix it for the match ups they want, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player set that battle up and Weir went out and beat Woods.
The U.S. has won five of the seven Presidents Cups. The International team took the 1998 edition and the two teams played to an epic tie in 2003.
There will be six foursomes matches on Thursday afternoon, followed by six four-ball matches on Friday. Saturday will open with five foursomes matches, followed by five matches in a four-ball format. There are 12 singles matches involving all players on Sunday. Each singles match is played to conclusion as needed. All matches are worth one point each, for a total of 34 points.
Unlike the 2003 Presidents Cup where Nicklaus and Player put names in an envelope in the event of a tie, the rules now state if the competition is tied after the singles, the Presidents Cup is deemed a tie and both sides share the Cup.
Golf Channel will televise Thursday and Friday's action before NBC takes over on the weekend.
Next week, the PGA Tour resumes the Fall Series with the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. Marc Turnesa won last year's event.
EUROPEAN TOUR
MADRID MASTERS, Centro Nacional de Golf, Madrid, Spain - It's a short turnaround for the European Tour players after the Monday finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
All of the Spanish stars are in the field, including Sergio Garcia, two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Gonzalo Fernandez- Castano and Alvaro Quiros.
Last year, it was a South African who prevailed in the inaugural Madrid Masters. Charl Schwartzel fired a five-under 66 to come from behind and defeat Ricardo Gonzalez by three strokes for his third European Tour win.
The 2008 championship was contested at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Golf Channel has all four rounds and next week is the Portugal Masters, where Quiros will try to successfully defend his title.
NATIONWIDE TOUR
CHATTANOOGA CLASSIC, Black Creek Club, Chattanooga, Tennessee - It's getting down to it on the Nationwide Tour. Including the Chattanooga Classic, there are two events to go before the Nationwide Tour Championship and that's only open to the top 60 on the money list.
Sunday's Soboba Classic winner Jerod Turner vaulted up to 17th from 150th at the start of the week. Things can certainly change quickly. B.J. Staten is 60th with $91,811, which is roughly $4,000 more than No. 61 Brian Smock.
Last year's winner Arjun Atwal is not in the field this week.
The Chattanooga Classic won't be on TV.
Next week is the Miccosukee Championship, which was won last year by D.A. Points. Then it's the finale, the Nationwide Tour Championship, at Daniel Island.
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