Presidents Cup: Rickie Fowler officially replaces Brooks Koepka on Team USA

Rickie Fowler will officially return to action at the Presidents Cup, as Tiger Woods has made the call to replace Brooks Koepka at Royal Melbourne.

The biggest remaining question around the 2019 Presidents Cup has finally been answered. Brooks Koepka is out, and Tiger Woods has named Rickie Fowler to replace him on the team.

It might not be the biggest surprise, but there were a lot of legitimate contenders for this spot, especially considering how deep the team already was with Koepka as a major question mark. You could have seen one of a half-dozen players don the red, white and blue and still taken Team USA as a dominating favorite.

Rex Hoggard of Golf Channel was the first to break the news, which came as a surprise in timing, but not in effect:

Koepka noted in a statement that “despite constant medical care and rehab”, he is still unable to play golf, and while he considers it a high honor to be on the team, he regrets not being able to compete. That could prove to be a significant issue as Koepka prepares for the 2020 PGA TOUR season, but that’s a conversation for another time.

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Fowler was forced to withdraw from last week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic after he contracted a bacterial infection on his honeymoon, but clearly that wouldn’t carry over for another three weeks. The only real concern is rust from being out of action since the TOUR Championship three months ago.

Rust is a real concern, but from a pure talent perspective, this is obviously the right pick. Brendon Todd is hot, but it’s been two (remarkably) good weeks in the fall. Kevin Na won the Shriners at the start of October, but he’s still super streaky. And as much as I would have loved to see Jordan Spieth get to team up with Patrick Reed, or Phil Mickelson keep the streak of national teams running, they’re clearly not in the best place competitively.

When it came time to make his captain’s picks, Woods also noted that making the call to Rickie Fowler, a close friend and strong competitor, to leave him off the team was the hardest thing he had to do as captain. Now, although he has to deal with the loss of Koepka, he gets the player he wanted all along. Really, it seems like it would have taken Fowler saying no, or Brooks making an unexpectedly speedy recovery, to change this at all.

So there we have it: Tiger Woods gets his man in Rickie Fowler, and the American Presidents Cup team is complete at long last. Things are shaping up to be as exciting as ever when the contest begins again in early December.