Presidents Cup: Who Tiger Woods should pick to replace Brooks Koepka

The Presidents Cup is just a few weeks away, and Tiger Woods may still have one important pick to make: replacing Brooks Koepka on the roster.

The 2019 Presidents Cup will start on December 12th, less than one month from today. Tiger Woods and Ernie Els have made their captains’ picks, and the rosters are set for competition. Well, mostly, that is. One of the American team’s biggest stars – and possibly the best player on the planet today – is still a major question mark.

Of course, we’re talking about Brooks Koepka, the major championship machine who has dominated the golf world for most of the last two years. However, he’s currently rehabbing a knee injury that forced him to miss both the CJ CUP @ Nine Bridges in Korea, as well as the WGC-HSBC Champions in China. In his absence, two fellow superstars – Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy – scored early season victories that have them in prime position for the year to come.

At this point, neither Woods nor Koepka has committed to any position regarding his availability for Royal Melbourne, but the prevailing idea right now is that Koepka will miss the biannual competition. And that makes sense, too, because as much as Brooks Koepka lives for competition, he has his sights set on bigger (individual) achievements in 2020.

So that begs the question: who will Tiger Woods pick to replace BK on the team? Considering that he went pretty much chalk on his captain’s picks by selecting three top points-earners (plus himself), he has a ton of flexibility here, and he won’t have to make it final until right before the Presidents Cup begins.

The obvious pick would be Rickie Fowler, who actually finished ahead of Patrick Reed in the points race, but has been out of action all fall for his wedding and honeymoon. Considering the bacterial illness that he came down with on that honeymoon (talk about a downer), he’d be a minor surprise, if only for the obvious rust factor he’d bring with him to Australia.

From there, though, the possibilities open up dramatically. Kevin Kisner is one of the favorites to be tabbed by Woods, especially considering his stellar match-play record. He even took an opportunity in an outing with Barstool Sports to remind the captain of just what it is that Kevin Kisner does when it’s time to win.

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So we’ve got Fowler and Kisner up first, but where do we go from there?

Kevin Na just won in Vegas in October for his second title of 2019, and frankly he’s one of those guys who could tear it up if he gets even a little bit hot with his putter. How great would it be to see him walking in putts and riling up the Australian crowd in a Sunday singles?

Then, further down the list, things get really fun. I don’t see any way the American team loses with the talent they have in the 11 players not named Brooks Koepka, so let’s get a little crazy.

What about giving Phil Mickelson a nod to extend the career streak of teams made? He’s a massive favorite in the team room, and in many ways he’d bring some balance to Tiger’s style. I know that we’ve seen TW smile more in the last two years than in his first two decades on Tour, but you know he’s going to want to step on throats early in Australia. And the high-stakes ping-pong games with Matt Kuchar would be worthy of a live stream on principle alone.

And then there’s Jordan Spieth, who has been searching for anything resembling the game that made him the world’s best player, but can still light it up with his putter. Plus, who doesn’t want to see him recreate the magic pairing with Patrick Reed? They’re almost good for two wins just teeing it up together. Tiger has clearly seen something, too, inviting Spieth to round out his Hero World Challenge field.

The list goes on from there. Bubba Watson is still one of the most entertaining players on the face of the earth, and his game is certainly good enough to do some damage in match play. Brandt Snedeker could bring a ton of experience to the team. And then there’s Chez Reavie, who still doesn’t get the recognition he deserves in an ultra-top-heavy generation.

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So it all could come down to one more pick for Playing Captain Tiger Woods at the Presidents Cup. There’s no real way for him to go wrong, but we didn’t come all this way not to make the prediction. With a stacked team in his first captaincy, and needing some heat to replace Brooks Koepka, Woods will want to put this thing to bed early. Look for Kevin Na to edge out Kisner for the pick if the World No. 1 isn’t ready to go.

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