DESPITE Brendon de Jonge’s failure to qualify for this year’s Presidents Cup competition, there will still be a distinctly Zimbabwean flavour at the biannual tournament with the country’s golf luminaries Nick Price, Tony Johnstone and Mark McNulty all part of the international team.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
The Presidents Cup, which pits a 12-man team from the United States against a line-up of international players from outside Europe, will be played from today through to Sunday at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea.
Price, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003, will captain the international team, while contemporaries Johnstone and McNulty will be two of the three assistants together with Korean KJ Choi.
The three-time major winner, who grew up playing golf with Johnstone and McNulty, said he was delighted to have his compatriots as his assistants for the second time after selecting them again two years ago.
“We have known each other since childhood, playing and competing against each other at junior tournaments and becoming friends away from the golf course over the past 40 years or so,” the former world number one said recently.
“Tony and Mark immersed themselves in their roles in the year leading up to the 2013 Presidents Cup . . . it was an easy choice for me to ask them to return as assistant captains again.
“They bring a vast amount of matchplay experience and knowledge to the international team, and this year they are more determined than ever to come out on the winning side,” he said.
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Bindura-born McNulty, who took up Irish citizenship in 2003, together with Bulawayo-born Johnstone also spoke of their delight to be reunited for the second time at this year’s tournament.
“Helping Nick [Price] out is only a pleasure. The three of us have known each other for close to 50 years. From junior golf and then playing at least eight Dunhill Cups, the friendship bond is as strong as ever,” he said.
“To echo what Mark said, the three of us have known each for so long, it is fantastic that we can team up again for such a wonderful event,” said Johnstone.
“I stayed with Nick and his mother during my very first golf tournament away from home at the age of 12, and we have been great friends since.” The Zimbabwean trio will be hoping to help the International team end the United States’ dominance of the Presidents Cup.
The USA have won eight of the previous 10 editions of the biennial team event, with the Internationals’ only victory coming in 1998, while they earned a tie in 2003.
