adminNEW YORK — If timing is everything in sport, as the saying goes, then the stars could not be better aligned for Zimbabwean Brendon de Jonge to make his debut at the biennial Presidents Cup in a month’s time.
The burly 33-year-old earned a spot on the 12-man Internationals team as one of two captains’ picks announced on Wednesday by compatriot Nick Price, who has long been his golfing idol and, more recently, a mentor.
De Jonge will become the third Zimbabwean to compete in the Ryder Cup-style event, following Price (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003) and Mark McNulty (1994, 1996). Both Price (captain) and McNulty (assistant) will be with him in the team locker room.
“It’s pretty cool and obviously it couldn’t work out any better,” de Jonge said a few hours after his Cup debut was made official.
“Once I found out Nick was going to be captain, it was definitely one of the goals that I set for myself, to do everything I could to try and make this team, and have the opportunity to play for him.
“Some of my best sporting memories are from playing team sport and unfortunately we don’t have that opportunity too much in our profession. I am looking forward to the camaraderie of team sport again.”
With 10 players already inked in as automatic choices on the International team after the final counting event, the Deutsche Bank Championship, finished on Monday, de Jonge was one of “five or six guys” Price had in his cross-hairs to be wildcard picks.
Though de Jonge and Australian Marc Leishman ended up gaining Price’s nod on Wednesday, the Zimbabwean conceded he had been feeling the pressure of expectation.
“It was almost impossible to stop thinking about it,” said de Jonge, who gave his own wildcard credentials a timely boost by tying for ninth at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second of the PGA Tour’s lucrative FedExCup playoff events.
De Jonge, who has yet to win on the PGA Tour despite several close calls since he first competed on the US circuit in 2007, first heard about his Presidents Cup summons when former world No 1 Price phoned him on Tuesday. “Nick called me at about four o’clock
yesterday afternoon and asked me if had a beer in my hand and told me if not I should go get one because I am on the team,” de Jonge said.
De Jonge could not be happier that he will make his Cup debut at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio from 3-6 October when Price, the golfing hero of his childhood, will captain the Internationals for the first time. — Reuters
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