Price, Couples named 2013 Presidents Cup captains

Zimbabwe's Nick Price, a three-time major champion, and Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters winner, were named team captains for the 2013 Presidents Cup, the US PGA Tour announced on Tuesday. Price will guide the International team of non-European talent against the American squad of Couples in the biennial team golf matches, to be staged October 3-6 at the Muirfield Village Golf Club built by legend Jack Nicklaus. "This is a huge honor. I'm very excited," Price said. "It's probably the most excited I've been about anything in the last five or six years. This has been a moment that I've been waiting for an awful long time." Muirfield Village will become the first course to host the US-Europe Ryder Cup matches, the US-Europe Solheim Cup women's matches and the Presidents Cup. Couples served as captain of the triumphant US Presidents Cup teams in 2009 and 2011. The 15-time US PGA event winner played in four Presidents Cups, one fewer than Price, an 18-time US PGA winner who makes his captaincy debut. "It's an amazing honor," Couples said. "The Presidents Cup has been a huge part of my career and my life. Those memories are unforgettable, and I feel extremely fortunate to get another chance when we go for a third straight victory. "To be up against Nick Price, who is one of my all-time favorites, will be a thrill. I know he'll have the time of his life just like I have." The Americans are 7-1-1 in the Presidents Cup, including a 19-15 triumph last November in Australia over a global side captained by Greg Norman. Tiger Woods defeated Australian Aaron Baddeley for the clinching point and Jim Furyk went 5-0 in his matches to produce the US victory at Royal Melbourne.  Price was on the Internationals team that beat the Americans in Melbourne, Australia, in 1998, and hopes to hand the US team its first home-soil defeat. "The win that we had in 1998 was just phenomenal," Price said. "If I could recreate that feeling again for the guys who play at any time, it would just be very special because you never forget those moments." Couples says Price's task is tougher than his because rallying an American side is easier than pulling together players from all over the world, even though most of them play on the US PGA Tour. "I have guys that I can go play an event next year and see them all pretty much on the spot," Couples said. "Nick may have to get on his plane and stop about nine times to find his guys, so it is a little bit harder. "I've seen their teams, played against them. They are incredible players. We just somehow get the lead and we stay in the lead and we win and I think Nick will try his best to figure a way how to not have that happen." US PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said that starting with the 2015 Cup, the leaders of international tours will select the Internationals captain.