Fred Vuich/SI

Fred Couples won the AT&T Championship by seven shots on Sunday.

Every week of the 2011 PGA Tour season, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group will conduct an e-mail roundtable. Check in on Mondays for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors and join the conversation in the comments section below.

SHOULD FRED COUPLES HAVE SELECTED HIMSELF FOR THE PRESIDENTS CUP TEAM?
Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Let's start with Fred Couples. He won the Champions Tour event in San Antonio this week by seven strokes . Honest-to-God, if they changed the rules and you could do it, would you fire Tiger from the team and make Fred your playing captain? I would in a heartbeat! I trust Jay Haas more with the lineup card anyhow, and I think Fred brings more game and comes with no baggage. How cool would that be?

Cameron Morfit, senior writer, Golf Magazine: I'd agree, except I think there's a big difference between the oldies tour and the PGA Tour. Could FC shine at Royal Melbourne? Maybe, but I'd still pick Tiger.

Jim Gorant, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: Thanks, but no thanks. Great guy, great player but history of coming up small when the pressure is on--although he's done his share in the team events. Not much pressure in San Antonio.

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Fred: Very cool. There's nobody I'd rather watch swing the club. Ever.

Herre: Interesting scenario, for sure, but a pipe dream. The fix was in for Woods from the get-go.

Gorant: Couples has always been great in the team events, but the Champions Tour is more like a Wednesday pro-am. I'll pass.

Morfit: I think Tiger just needs to play tournaments, and he knows it. If he doesn't, than all this work with Foley won't amount to anything.

Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Love Fred, but he's had his day.

Morfit: What if they had Ryder and Prez Cups for old guys? Might not even be safe. Better bring the defib paddles!

Jim Herre, managing editor, SI Golf Group: There'd be a whole lot of yippin' going on.

Jeff Ritter, senior producer, Golf.com: I'll give you this, Michael: if Freddy was somehow allowed to dump Tiger and put himself on the Prez Cup team, it would be the biggest golf story of the year -- even bigger than "Hot Dog Guy."

Rick Lipsey, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: As good as it looks, nothing on the Champions Tour carries over to the PGA Tour. Totally different worlds, mindsets, etc. Winning 10 times as a senior is no hint to how somebody will do on the big tour.

Morfit: Michael, your man DL3 is going to make a killing on that tour. Might be a good time to dust off your caddie skills and try and get that bag by any means necessary.

Bamberger: This whole question of Fred picking Tiger is not going away. Greg Norman, the International team's captain, told a Florida newspaper the other day, "I can understand the name of a Tiger Woods and his history of what he's done on the golf course," Norman said. "But I pick the guys who I think are ready to get in there and play and have performed to the highest levels leading up to it." This whole debate is one of the best things to ever happen to the Presidents Cup, don't you think? I've never cared so much!

Mark Godich, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: The Shark is trying to get into Tiger's head. Whatever happened to these things being friendly competitions? But it gives everyone one more reason to watch.

Morfit: When I interviewed Greg for Golf Magazine I sense that he was frustrated Tiger wasn't reaching out to the right people, like people who've actually been No. 1 and in the public eye. Like Greg, in other words.

Herre: Of course Norman is right. Woods would never have been a captain's pick if this was the Ryder Cup. I've always enjoyed the Presidents Cup, and think it really came of age in 2003 in South Africa, but putting Woods on the team for obvious commercial reasons is a travesty and a setback for the event.

Shipnuck: The best thing to happen to this Prez Cup is Norman's yapping. It guarantees Tiger will come to play.

Lipsey: Tiger's scenario is the only thing to make anybody give a hoot about a Presidents Cup on the other side of the world.

Bamberger: Oh, no, Rick--don't agree. I've never been to Australia but I have to think Greg Norman captaining a team with Adam Scott--and Steve Williams!--will be a really big deal Down Under and in various Asian countries. What do you think, folks, are you feeling more P-Cup fever this time?

Lipsey: I'm talking stateside interest, and let's face it, the majority of the golf TV audience is in the U.S.

Godich: I've got to admit that the time difference makes it tough.

Gorant: Well, I'd say that the majority of the U.S. TV audience is in the U.S. Lots of people in Australia, and they love sports. Then add in all the Asian countries....

John Garrity, contributing writer, Sports Illustrated: I like it BETTER when the World is the home team. The best P-Cup was the tie in South Africa, and the crowds were definitely into it when the Ints beat us Down Under.

Lipsey: Winning cures everything in sports. If, and it's a big IF, Woods plays well, it's the choice of the century.

Godich: No, it won't be. We're not going to learn a heck of a lot about the state of Tiger's game based on what he does in an exhibition.

Lipsey: But Fred will look great because the world will see pix and hear stories about Tiger's great play.

Bamberger: Well, I do feel it could be a big help to Tiger is he plays well, just as it was to Adam Scott two years ago. That's part of what I object to here: it's all good for Tiger, but what about the team?

Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: You're right about one thing: Absolutely no one was talking about the President's Cup until Fred announced that the struggling Tiger was a lock. From a public relations standpoint, it was a slam dunk. Do you want the Prez Cup to be like the All-Star Game? The starting lineup is who the fans want, not necessarily the best players. As captain, I'd pick the hot hands, as Norman did. On the other hand, what happens if Tiger plays lousy and the U.S. loses? I'll tell you what happens--nothing. We move on.

Have a question for Gary Van Sickle's mailbag? E-mail editor@golf.com or ask it on Facebook.

Bamberger: Well, I think you're all correct about Fred. A 62 on the Champions Tour, short course, easy hole locations, is maybe a 67 or something on the regular tour. But the point is, he can still really play. By that I mean, when he's playing well he's a true force. Playing partner golf and team golf would only make things easier for him. If Fred played a full (for him) regular Tour schedule, do you think he could win? I say he could. I think he's as good now as he was five years ago, and probably putts better. He's really a strangely unique figure in the game, just because of his high, high skill level and how little it yielded.

Godich: "When he's playing well, he's a true force." You could say that about a lot of guys.

Herre: The thing is, Michael, Couples's back has been in and out for 20 years. I don't think he'd last long if he had to play a 7,500-yard course every week.

Hack: A full PGA Tour schedule for Fred would yield a few exciting weeks. Contention in L.A. and Houston, a round or two of intrigue at Augusta. I just don't think the putter will allow for much more.

Garrity: But that's what's so intriguing about Couples, Damon. He's a better putter now than he was a decade ago, when he was very "jabby" on the greens. Maybe it's the slower greens, but I don't close my eyes anymore when he's bent over a 4-footer.

Morfit: A full PGA Tour schedule for Fred would yield a few exciting weeks. Contention in L.A. and Houston, a round or two of intrigue at Augusta. I just don't think the putter will allow for much more. If they held every tournament at Riviera and or Augusta, he'd be in business. Which reminds me, I got dibs on Fred for Masters pool.

Van Sickle: I think we've already seen that Fred can't putt quite well enough to win on the PGA Tour anymore. Maybe he could catch lightning in a bottle one week. I'd love to see it but I don't think he can keep his back healthy enough to practice long enough to get his game sharp enough again to win on the big tour.

Tell us what you think: If the rules allowed for the late switch, who would you rather see playing on the U.S. Presidents Cup team: Tiger or Freddy?

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