What they said: Greg Norman, Fred Couples

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JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Good morning, welcome to the 2011 Presidents Cup. I'd like to welcome the captains at this time from the visiting United States Team, Fred Couples and the captain of the International Team, and the host team, Greg Norman. Like to start with a few opening comments from each captain, and we'll start with the visiting captain, Fred Couples.

FRED COUPLES: Well, I was here last week with several of our players down in Sydney and played down there and then we came up here and I just want to thank everybody for the great job they have done. Obviously Greg has influenced Royal Melbourne to get the course in the shape of any golf course I've ever seen; it's absolutely perfect.

Some of our players came out yesterday and a few of them are calling it the best course they have ever played. And I came here in '88 and played; and I played St. Andrews and Augusta, and these are three of my favorite courses. A lot of you I've talked to before, and I've said that.

So for us, it's going to be a great week, a fun week, but we are playing one of the greatest golf courses in the world and I'm just happy to be a part of it.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: From the home team, the international captain, Greg Norman.

GREG NORMAN: Obviously want to echo whatever Freddie said. It's the same feeling with the International Team and myself. We have got a couple of guys on my team that have not played here. I've been speaking to them very directly about how to approach this golf course. It is so unique in a lot of ways. Like Fred, this is my favorite golf course in the world.

I congratulate the superintendent and Matt Kamienski for actually getting the golf course in the condition that it's in right now. It's absolutely perfection. Mother Nature has been very, very helpful on that part to get it to where it is. The green speeds are getting closer to where it should be. Depending on the weather coming in, if it gets a little too breezy, obviously the green speeds have to be adjusted or changed a little bit. But if it stays the way it is, Royal Melbourne is going to be the golf course that we all love to play.

My guys are very, very excited about playing it. I've spoken to a couple of Freddie's players when they were out here, and just to hear the spirit and the enthusiasm about coming here and playing Royal Melbourne is what it's all about. They are all great players, all 24 of them. They will make the adjustment necessary to learn Royal Melbourne over the next couple of days and I truly believe this is going to be a very, very close fought battle over the next five, six days.

Q. You've had a couple of days to reflect on what happened at The Lakes, what happened over the course of Australian Open tell you about the sort of form your team is in?

GREG NORMAN: I think anybody, from whether it's my team or Freddie's team, the guys who played well at The Lakes are going to bring their game down here.

The Lakes Golf Club is a totally different type of golf course than what Royal Melbourne is, different grasses, you have Kikuyu grasses to Legends Couch and you have got very, very firm, fast greens to very slow undulating greens up at The Lakes. But most important thing is the way they are swinging the golf club. They are bringing their game down here to Florida Florida, to Melbourne.

FRED COUPLES: I said that, too. Why, I don't know. (Laughter).

GREG NORMAN: But anyway, they are bringing their games down here to Melbourne, and I don't see any reason why their games are going to go off boil. Matter of fact, I think their games are going to be heightened over the next couple of days.

Q. To both of you, Greg first, if you don't mind. What is the ideal green speed for you, given there's no wind, what is the ideal green speed?

GREG NORMAN: I played here 35 years, 36 years; I remember Royal Melbourne playing extremely well and the character of Royal Melbourne around 13 1/2, 14, anywhere in between that mark. Anything under 13, I think the golf course doesn't play the way it should play.

To me, every time I played here, it's the last two feet of the putt, or the three feet of the putt where the ball wants to just keep trickling and trickling. And around Royal Melbourne, it depends on the angle you're at with your putt; that last two or three feet can make another 2 footer turn into a 5 footer with a lot of break. That makes the players think, and it starts right from the very tee shot to the second shot to where you put it on the green.

This is not a golf course where you just get up and just smash it and say, I'm going to be fine. You can hit it close to the pin here and be six feet above the hole every day and somebody 30 feet below the hole every day is probably going to beat you. So it depends on the positioning and how you play it.

Q. Just like to ask if both of you could tell me the competitiveness, how much are you going to ramp it up and show some teeth when it actually comes to the competitive side? You've already got the partition between you here, is there going to be a little bit more of that or is it going to be more in the sort of friendly matter.

GREG NORMAN: You can take this (chuckling).

FRED COUPLES: You know, that's probably a good question. But pretty simple answer, that Greg and I have played in a few Presidents Cups and we've played against each other, and you know, basically for us, we had a good time making pairings.

I know we sit here this year, it's going to be in front of the media and we went through it pretty quick. I'll never forget the very first time we did it, I didn't know what to expect. I think it took us all of 25 seconds to make six pairings.

Then we got to the course, and you're focused on your guys. So when you walk up to Greg and you shake hands, although he had his left arm last year because he was injured, you tap him on the back and say, good luck to Ogilvy and all of the boys.

But basically, as it got to Saturday and it got a little nitty gritty, we are a little more into our players. When our guy made a putt for birdie to go 2 up or 1 up, you know, you don't look at Greg and stare him down because it's irrelevant. It's got nothing to do with he and I. They are out there killing themselves for us and we are basically, as the captains, doing your job, walking around watching.

GREG NORMAN: Yeah, that's exactly right. I think the attention he builds up coming to the weekend, there's no question about it.

You have to remember, all of us have been great friends I shouldn't say all of us, because a lot of us have not played against each other. But most of the players on the respective teams, we are good friends. We spend a lot of time with each other off the golf course. It's getting that intensity when you walk to the first tee saying I'm playing for the USA, for the International Team and I've got to win my point and that's when the intensity comes in.

As captains, we just do the best job we can of getting the guys very spirited and getting into the game. If you feel there's a guy feeling a little bit flat about his game, you have to pick him up a little bit.

But to reference your question about teeth, I don't think we need to show our teeth. The spirit of the competition is so deep, I know my guys are getting sick and tired of getting beaten. We won in '98 and that's it, with another tie, and they want to win.

I love to hear that type of talk from my players, because when you're an individual and you are used to winning golf tournaments and you're not winning a certain golf tournament as a team, you want to band together very, very tightly. And that's what I'm feeling this week with my guys. They are sick of getting beaten.

Q. Can you give us an update on the three late comers and has it upset the apple cart not getting in here early enough to sample the course, if you like?

GREG NORMAN: Well, everybody is here except Ryo. He comes in later on today. Unfortunately it is what it is. You've got to expect the unexpected.

The great part about Ryo is he's young. He can survive the jet lag and survive an overnight flight and get in here. He's a good enough player, he'll have enough information coming his way tomorrow about the golf course. So I'm not concerned about it. Obviously we would like to have as a team unit everybody together and being engaged from today onwards, but, hey, it is what it is, and you just adapt to it.

Q. Greg, I had two questions for you. What percentage would you attribute any advantage to the course and what percentage to the home crowd?

GREG NORMAN: I would say probably more to the home crowd than the golf course. These guys, like I said before, they know how to adapt to golf courses. They go to St. Andrews for the British Open after playing a golf course at the John Deere Classic that maybe are two totally different golf courses and they adjust to that very, very quickly.

Look, between their caddies and the experience for the guys who haven't played, they are going to get the experience from somebody like Freddie who has played here. So I put more down to the home field/spectator being a big advantage.

It's great. Melbourne is a very cosmopolitan city in a way. We have a lot of ex pats from Korea. We have a lot of ex pats from Japan, and obviously the Australians and South Africans have always had great support here in Australia.

I think Melbourne is great town for that because it's a great spectator down and they will come out like they did in '98 and I think it will slowly build up into the weekend where we'll have pretty good home field advantage in that regard.

Q. Secondly, there was kind of a feeling back in '98 that the U.S. Team was begrudgingly travelling all the way down here at this time of the year and some questions whether they would even go to South Africa, which they eventually did. Question being, from your perspective, do you see a change in the way that golf is now and the way the younger Americans' attitudes are getting on a plane to go somewhere to play golf?

GREG NORMAN: I do. I think it's fantastic the way Americans have embraced the way global golf is played nowadays. The season post THE TOUR Championship gives them the validity of going to Shanghai or Singapore or down here to Melbourne or other places around the world to play; and those opportunities, the guys are taking. The international players have always done it, and I think the competition this week, from a pure competitive level is going to be a little bit tighter because a lot of the Americans, pretty much everyone, weren't they in the same time zone last week?

FRED COUPLES: Pretty much.

GREG NORMAN: Either in Asia or Australia. So they are not coming down here with any jet lag worries at all, and I think that's a huge plus; and especially playing around this golf course, because when you're tired around here, this thing will beat you bad from a pure competitive standpoint.

Look, it's the responsibility of every player, no matter what their position, is to promote the game on a global basis, and I like to see what the Americans are doing, travelling and playing overseas.

Q. Obviously, welcome, and I'm interested in Greg's response to this as well. He touched on it a little bit talking about the fact that the Internationals are sick of losing. How much of a mental edge does the U.S. have over the internationals given the results over the last 15 years? And a response from both of you if we can.

FRED COUPLES: Well, my first response is I've been on a lot of these early teams and I was certainly here in '98. I mean, let's face it, pretty much a lot of you guys were here, too. The Presidents Cup has been in America 80 percent of the time, or whatever the odds would be, and we have won 100 percent of the time.

Is that fair? It's certainly turning to get to be where it will be off and on in the United States and I think that's the way it should be. So for us, we realize that this is a big week for us. It's a hard week for us. We have never won The Presidents Cup outside of America.

Greg will tell you, he's been on a lot of these teams, and you know, when you lose, and you make a comment, everyone looks at you like it's sour grapes because it gets frustrating that we play at the United States all the time. And I think our players would say the same: If the Internationals came up with this and we travelled and played Royal Melbourne and played in Adelaide and we lost every single time, we would say, what the hell, how about playing this on our turf.

So this week, we are here. Again in '98, I was there. We were not a factor. It was very important for me to let everyone know back in May that whoever is on this team, I want you playing the week before. I'll do everything I can to get you there, and like Greg, he had all of his players there, which is simple, they are Australians, but his other guys played in other tournaments. I thought that was very important.

We know what we are up against, and it's going to be tough just like it's been tough for them since this thing started.

Q. You've had eight players in the country now for a week or so adjusting to the time zone. How beneficial is that? And also, how beneficial is it for the team's psyche that Tiger had a good week last week?

FRED COUPLES: Well, I'll answer the first part. You know, Australia is an incredible place to come visit. Obviously to play golf is fun. And so the guys that were there last week, Hunter Mahan hurt his neck, so he rested to be ready. Matt Kuchar missed the cut. But they had a great time.

And they visited things, they did things, so they took their mind off getting up here and worrying about Royal Melbourne or how hard it is. But once we got here, we are in a world class hotel. We are gambling a little bit. The girls went on a wine trip. It's a pretty peaceful town.

And so for this kind of a week, it's like me, we want to be laid back. The Aussies are laid back, so we are having a blast.

And to end it, as far as Tiger, it's very important for Aaron Baddeley to play well last week, or Geoff Ogilvy to shoot 65 the last round. And for Tiger, it's very important, also. But for me as the captain, I believe in all 12 of my guys. I picked two of them, and it's been a little bit here or there, but he had a great week last week. He enjoyed the guys he played against and he knows this week is going to be brutal. It was nice to see him play well. It was nice to see Nick Watney play well.

But for Tiger, he's always got the X on his back and everyone watches how he does, and I felt like on Saturday night, we had dinner and he came up and he goes, "You know, I had a rough day out there, I didn't hit many bad shots, but you watch tomorrow". I think everyone says that, and I did watch and he had a great round and he's pretty confident.

Again, this is one of the top courses you'll ever play and it brings the best in all of these guys. Like Greg said, I think we have the best 24 players that's ever played in The Presidents Cup, and I know Greg's been a part of it and played in it and Ernie Els and all these guys. But they are pretty talented and they are having a blast and it could not be on a better course.

Q. Do you think it's a factor to look down to see that the stars and stripes; some of the guys out here for the first time, they seemed pretty inspired by that, it's something that they have not got on their shirts.

FRED COUPLES: They got so inspired that we wore Australian colors today (green).

I was amazed. Phil Mickelson told me last night, this is the 18th team he's played on with The Ryder Cup and The Presidents Cup. He's very excited. He's one of my assistant captains, though he's on the team. Yeah, I mean, there's I don't want to use this word loosely. It's easier for me than Greg. Greg has not guys that come from everywhere, and I think, if I'm not mistaken, four countries, Japan, Korea, South Africa and Australia.

So I've got 12 buddies. Now, I've ever seen Webb Simpson play golf. I watched him hit a few yesterday. I don't know if Greg has ever seen Kyung tae Kim, much of him, but it's kind of weird. I've never seen Webb Simpson hit a ball except for on TV. He's really wound up. He's great in the team room.

And the rest of the guys I guess Nick Watney has never been on a team. But he's someone that when I was on TOUR, I played practice rounds with. We had the same teacher for a while, so I've been around him a lot, and they are very upbeat, just like Greg's. Except he's got different flags and we all have one flag and we are very proud to be here. We have a team a lot like Greg. We have older guys and we have younger guys, and I think it's a pretty unique mix.

Q. Freddie mentioned you guys coming from four different nationalities. I know you had dinner last night and you ended up out of the bus directing traffic. How important is that dinner and then building that team, how important was last night for you?

GREG NORMAN: Well, I think it's important for them like with Kyung tae Kim, I have not spent any time with him. I watched him, like Freddie today with Webb Simpson, I watched him on the driving range, very, very impressed.

You have to understand, I put myself in their shoes, what was I like for the first time around an iconic figure as my captain, whoever it was, whether it was David Graham or Peter Thomson, or first time around Jack Nicklaus. You feel like you're going to melt and scared to open your mouth and you feel a little bit out of your league. It's really trying to get K.T. and the other guys more comfortable.

So last night it was very much a laid back environment. You know, everybody really mixed with everybody. I got up and made a little speech to try and get everybody comfortable. But even when you make a speech, you've got to be a little bit more thoughtful in your word process, because you're going through an interpreter to go to K.T. I know Y.E. and K.J. speak very good English, so you've really got to be selective on how you deliver your message. It's not the message; it's how you deliver the message. So it makes it a little bit different for me. I have to make a slight adjustment to it.

With the players, on the driving range today, I've got to get to know their caddies, and knowing their caddies is an integral part of getting access to their player. And all of them are great guys to deal with. But talking to them and making them understand the golf course, the nuances of the golf course via the caddie. And I said to K.T.'s caddie today, hey, you're most important guy today, teaching your man how to play this golf course. You have to learn this golf course faster than he learns this golf course.

So those are the things that make it a lot more difficult for me, because when you have experienced teams with communication, it's like, hey, now these guys know how to go out at a team and work and operate.

Q. Every time Queensland loses five or six series in a row, everyone talks about the death of this concept. The International Team has not had a lot of success over the history of this concept. How important is it do you think that they start to have some success for the sake of The Presidents Cup?

GREG NORMAN: Greg that they have success? Oh, I think it's really important. As a team, it's important for us, there's no question. And the thing that the players have got to realize is that they are good enough as players, obviously, or they would not be on the team.

As players, they are really good enough to gel as a team and as a team, every time they walk to the first team, you go back to the individuality of it, and you say, you're the most important on that team as you walk to the first tee.

So that's the transition I've been trying to make with my guys, the eclectic collection of cultures and flags, to make sure that when we talk to the tee, that they are walking they are the most important person for that moment and forget everything else that's going on. So success is important for them.

And I want them to win it for them, no other reason. And then obviously secondary, I think for The Presidents Cup, you can go back to look at the history of the beginning of The Ryder Cup, I think the United States drummed the U.K. team 24 22 or 24 2, I believe, or some record like that in matches before The Ryder Cup was expanded to Europe and then it became a real competitive spirit where the Americans started to get challenged and got beat. And that needs to happen for The Presidents Cup as well.

I think it's important, touching on what Freddie said before, moving this event around, you have to take it to a host country outside of the United States for sure to give those guys, whether it's going to Korea or whether it goes to South Africa again or whether it comes back to Australia or Japan; to give those guys a sense of responsibility of bringing a great event like The Presidents Cup to their country, and it gives them a real sense of a big lift of picking them up.

Just like my two picks with Aaron and Robert; once they got picked, all of a sudden, their spirits just picked up because they are playing in Australia for the International Team for an Australian, as an Australian, I should say. So you see them really pick up.

So it's important to The Presidents Cup stays on the path that once in the United States, back overseas again, and then obviously us winning.

Q. For an audience that may know Alister MacKenzie mostly for the Masters, what makes this course special? You've designed a lot of courses and played here a lot, can you give some specific examples?

FRED COUPLES: Well, he's been here a long time. I lived in Santa Barbara, and I was a member at the Valley Club, which is a MacKenzie course, and it's unique. There are holes that when you play, you think are extremely easy until you hit a shot that's just slightly off line, and then the ball rolls on the green and rolls 50 feet away.

And then the day before, you don't hit a shot that's quite different, and you hit it down there and it's 15 feet in the right spot, you knock a putt in the hole and you make a birdie and you go away thinking, I'm on a little roll here.

Again, I think Greg would tell you a lot more I'll end it with this. If you go play this course and there's not much wind, we are going to see an incredible amount of birdies and great iron shots. There will be some greens, maybe not driven, it's hard to drive it on a green here but there are some holes that guys will try and drive and put them in bunkers around the greens.

Greg could talk probably two hours about it. It fits your eye and it's just an unbelievable looking course.

GREG NORMAN: Yeah, if you get out of position around Royal Melbourne, you're out of position; you can't recover.

The golf course is defenseless. If there's no wind and a little bit of moisture in the air and a little bit on the ground Freddie is right, these guys are so good, they drive the ball so far right now and the ball goes straighter, so you don't have to worry about getting as much off line; so you can be very, very aggressive.

It all comes down to where they put the pins out there; knowing where the pins are and knowing the consequences if you short side yourself. It's just a positional golf course. It's not a very, very long golf course at all.

And then if the wind gets up, which it's predicted to be on Friday, up to 25 , 30 mile an hour winds, this place will eat your lunch. For a golf course with no water on it and no out of bounds, you can be so intimidated on some of these tee shots, I don't care how good you are. Because if you decide to lay back to get on the fairway just to get on the green, you might leave yourself a 45 footer where you know a 3 putt is good 3; or you have to make a 10 or 12 footer for your second putt.

So it's always got you a little bit off balance, unless it's dead calm and soft. When it's dead calm and soft, you'll see what happened Freddie, you played the Johnnie Walker here when Adam and Ernie ran away it, they both shot 21 under par, that's very doable around here because the golf course does expose itself when it's soft and slow.

Q. You spoke about the team and what it might mean for the team and the team spirit. But for you personally, with all you've achieved in the game, what would it mean to you to be able to lift that trophy on Sunday?

GREG NORMAN: Look, I'll be happiest for the guys, not for me, quite honestly. It's all about the guys as far as I'm concerned.

Am I responsible for getting the group of guys together? Yes, absolutely. When I walk to the first tee to be an observer with Freddie as we tee off the first match on Thursday at one o'clock or whatever it is, the ball is in their court. They do all of the hard work. We really have the fun stuff to do. I've enjoyed the process for the last couple of years, the last four years basically. I have enjoyed the process of making everything off the golf course a lot easier for the players to enjoy themselves on the golf course.

So it's not about me as far as I'm concerned. It's all about the 12 guys. It's about them as a team to win it, and if they do win it, I'll be so proud and happy for them.

Q. In light of what happened in South Africa, under any circumstances, can we end in a tie this week?

GREG NORMAN: I don't think so, the rules have changed for that. Right, Freddie?

FRED COUPLES: Yeah.

GREG NORMAN: No ties. Don't ask me, Bob, what the rules are, but somebody here will be able to explain that to you. (Laughing).

Q. Is there some advantage to having a chance for the American Team to play every year, like last year they were in Wales, played away from home; this time in Australia, and you've got guys that were on that team like Bubba; just getting used to playing on the road in these kind of events, does that help?

FRED COUPLES: I think. So I've talked to Bubba a little bit about that. Just, you know, these are great crowds here in Australia. They are very fair, they are very fun. Last week we all were there and the reason I was saying, a lot of people said, hey, great week this week, but maybe not so much next week.

I fully respect that. So when you get these guys that have never played, it's not that no one going to be on your side. They are just not going to be rooting against you. There's a little bit of a difference in that. They are all sports junkies. Greg's team is, too. They have been to events, when you go see St. Louis play, I'm a big St. Louis Cardinal fan, I could have friends on the other team but I'm rooting for the Cardinals and they are looking at me and they all know I like the Cardinals. In golf we don't get it very often.

The Presidents Cup International Team has gotten it almost every year. So your question about our guys, and Bubba, I think it helps them, makes them tougher. I know they all want to play everyone wants to play well.

So I don't know how many points are involved in this but I'm pretty sure we are not going to win every one of them, and neither is Greg's team. But we want to win a heck of a lot more than we won in '98. We want to keep this thing close and make it interesting. We know we have our work cut out for us.

Q. Michael Jordan could not be here because of the NBA situation; is he involved by proxy? Have you talked with him?

FRED COUPLES: He'll give us a little call probably tomorrow. I've told him that a couple of weeks ago. He's well liked by everyone, even Greg's team. Everyone enjoyed it. He's disappointed he's not here, and we brought in John Cook. But, yeah, we'll give us a little call.

And to be honest with you, I know Greg had a dinner last night and he gave a little speech. I did the same thing at Harding Park the first night, and tonight, I think I won't say a word. Last time Michael was the only one who said a speech, and it was about a minute long and had nothing to do with golf.

I think our team is well aware of what's going on and I'm one of the guys, I have no pull or rank over them, but they all are ready to get we probably wish it was Wednesday night and get this thing going.

GREG NORMAN: (Nodding in agreement) Yeah.

Q. I heard Jason Day asking you today some mental advice; what was going through your head back in your heyday and when you were driving. Are you enjoying personally that roll of taking that mentor position that you used to play against the under study, too? And could you talk us through the bus last night?

GREG NORMAN: First of all, I want to know where you were on the driving range to hear that conversation with Jason Day. You synced with my radio here or what? I thought that was a private conversation.

Look, I love it as being the elder statesmen I guess in the game of golf where a player comes up to you and asks you about what you used to do and how you approached it, whether it's physically or whether it's mentally.

I've always had an open door policy no matter whether they are from South Africa, Australia, Japan, America; if somebody wants to ask me for advice, I'm going to give it to them the best I can and what they are seeking.

Jason was that way today. He just asked me about my attitude when I walked to the tee to hit a driver, what I saw, my mental approach, what I thought about as a executed, just before I executed my backswing. You know, information is great. The more information you get, the better off you're going to be because you just take little bits of everybody's information, because it's not all going to suit you; but one little piece may suit and you take you to the next level. So you have to keep finding that next level, whatever it is.

So I'm there for Jason. If he wants to have more conversations, I'm there for him, as well.

As for the bus, we left our restaurant last night, and I felt sorry for the bus driver because he was trying to make a left turn on a back street -- and with the old gutter system in Melbourne, the brickpavers they had, it was V shaped and he bottomed out and we were stuck in the middle of the road. He didn't know how much he was going to damage the bus by going forward or going back.

So we all got off the bus and eventually he had to back all the way down to the main road. And, you know, it was an interesting situation where a car was coming up and the guy had his window down and I'm walking up to him doing this down (waving arms as if to stop traffic) the street right and he started winding his window up thinking I must have been coming to take him on or something, I don't know. (Laughter).

He wound up his window and stood and stared right out. And I said, "Just roll down your window" with a smile on my face, and then he got it and turned around and went back. So we had to back the bus all the way out on the main street. K.J. was on one side and I was on the other side holding up the traffic. I thought that was a good way to bring a bit of team camaraderie together because it was just spontaneous.

And Stan has got some great photographs if you want to see it (chuckling).

Q. For both Greg and Fred. It's a bit of a general question. Why is this event so popular, and also important, and could you talk a little about the charitable focus of the event?

GREG NORMAN: I'll pick it up first. I thought it was a popular I shouldn't say a popular decision.

Way back when I was the No. 1 player of the world I was very envious of a Fred Couples and Severiano Ballesteros or José Maria Olazábal playing on a team or representing whatever group or Europe in the game of golf. I really wanted that for myself. I thought, geez, that looks fantastic to see everybody running up and giving you high fives and getting excited about the outcome of a match.

And I actually went to Commissioner Finchem at the time and I said, hey, I think it would be great if the rest of the world, outside of Europe and America, played the winner of The Ryder Cup Team in the off year just to bring the rest of the world into the same game as what was going on and same enjoyment.

So it was really my belief that the other players weren't getting that experience to have that. Fortunately it paid off. The Commissioner obviously took it took a little bit different route than the winner of The Ryder Cup. It was a little bit more problematic, and then it morphed out into the U.S.

Look, I can completely understand. I feel for the U.S. players a lot because they play The Presidents Cup and they play The Ryder Cup and that's a lot on their schedules to slot those in. But I think the end of the day, the team camaraderie that you see out of the U.S. of late in the last ten, 12 years has been fantastic and probably has a lot to do with the fact that they are enjoying themselves with The Presidents Cup as a team.

We are at a disadvantage as the International Team because where we have a hard time is the alternate shot, or the foursomes; because they have played Ryder Cup and they know their foursome. We are going in there blind with a lot of our players who have never played that format before. So we have not had a chance to experience that on a regular basis.

So from my perspective, I think it was a huge boost for the game of golf that we had The Presidents Cup for the players, other players in the world, that were as good as the Europeans or the Americans.

FRED COUPLES: And to go a little further, a degree 100 percent with Greg. Our players are obviously very excited to be here. The Presidents Cup, being on the first team and the earlier teams, and now being a captain, it's a much easier event. The flow is better. We are not playing 36 holes every day and I'm comparing it to The Ryder Cup.

And the problem, a little bit with The Ryder Cup, is we have a lot of parents who have come to watch their sons play this week. As a captain, they are all going to play. In The Ryder Cup, if someone is not playing well, you can actually not really play them. There's nothing in the rules that says they have to play until the singles and that has happened before. It's very hard to have someone come and their parents and aunts and uncles come and they are not playing golf on Friday and they are not playing golf on Saturday, or maybe one match.

So this thing, I think they got everything right obviously and now we are certainly travelling to other countries to play. But it's got a great flow to it. It's Thursday where we will have 30,000 people out here, I guess that's the number, and Friday, and it's a great event. We all know each other very, very well. Maybe a couple of guys on this year's team that we haven't seen much of. But The Presidents Cup has a great, great flow to it.

GREG NORMAN: And to answer your question about the charity, I think it's really important that the PGA TOUR keeps that consistency going. The PGA TOUR have done a phenomenal job over decades and decades of giving back to charity. This is a PGA TOUR event. They run the event. They control where the money is going. The players obviously are the benefactors of that and we give the money away to our respective charities.

It's huge for us, as well. Every now and then it's great to give back. We all give back respectively through different charitable events we have in our own causes but when you can get together as a team and the amount of money that's generated from a gross standpoint in this event is a lot; the amount of money given away from a charity standpoint is a lot as well.

So they have kept that same mandate going through to The Presidents Cup where the charitable contribution is a priority.

Q. Can you give the story behind the shirts, please?

FRED COUPLES: Well, I came down last year and Greg and I, we met here. We looked at the course and drove around and everyone was talking about the floods. I just had this idea of coming here, and hopefully to be quite honest, getting a few Aussies behind us and thinking we are pretty nice to come here and raise some money.

So I got this idea to wear their colors today. Obviously it's Tuesday. I would never do it during the tournament. We are giving the money to the Australian Football League, their charities. They are in charge of it, and we have got 15 shirts for the 12 players and three captains. It was just our idea of maybe hoping that we sell all of these clothes and maybe make 25,000 or 30,000 Australian dollars and let the Aussie football league do what they want with it.

We teed off early and a few people have noticed and made comments. We took team photos today, and a few players were a little bit mystified on why we are not wearing red, white and blue. So, you know, they know why, and it was my idea and it was just done to make a little extra money here.