Couples, who has captained the last two winning USA Presidents Cup sides, had let slip during last month’s Memorial event last month in Ohio that he was to be picked as a vice-captain.
Love has been a long-time good friend of Couples including being U.S. team partners in winning a record four straight World Cups from 1992 to 1995.
And Love had some fun in ‘re-announcing’ Couples choice as a 2012 vice-captain.
Fred Couples and Mike Hulbert named as USA 2012 Ryder Cup Vice-Captains. (Photo - www.pga.com)
“I’d like to re-announce some announcements that Fred Couples let slip,” said Love smiling.
“I talked to Fred all the way back in January, so he did pretty well to keep it under his hat all the way to Memorial.
“But talking to Fred about how we were going to do this, working with them on picking the other two, I think staging this is different than we’ve done in the past, but I am waiting on a couple guys to see how they play, where they fit in the mix of the points list.
“I’ve also talked to Freddie a lot since he’s done so well the last couple years with the Presidents Cup team.
“I also gotten a lot of advice, been surprised at his level of detail and his commitment to the Presidents Cup.
“And I know that’s why the guys are lobbying for him to do it over and over again, because he really has put a lot into it.”
To most observers, Hubert’s selection is somewhat surprising given he has not competed full time on the PGA Tour since 2003.
The 54-year old New Yorker, nicknamed ‘Hubby’, has had just three wins in his PGA Tour career and the last in 1991.
However Love has shown loyalty to Hulbert given the duo were paired together when Love made his debut as an amateur on the PGA Tour at the 1983 B.C Open.
Hulbert was a vice-captain to Curtis Strange in 2002 at The Belfry when the USA lost to a Sam Torrance captained European Team.
“Well, one of the first phone calls I got when it was announced that I was going to be the captain was from Curtis, and he said, the best assistant captain in the history of the Ryder Cup was Mike Hulbert,” said Love.
“He was assistant for Curtis, and that was a lot of fun for me to play on that team because I had Mike Hulbert there as well as Curtis. Curtis was still an intimidating player back then when he was the captain, and as a captain I was kind of nervous.
“So too have Mike around, it was great.
“But my first pairing on the PGA Tour when I was an amateur was Mike Hulbert and Ken Green. So Mike Hulbert and I have been on‑‑ even before I was on Tour he’s been one of my friends, and I’ve stayed with him hundreds of times in hotel rooms and houses across the Tour, and he’s been a close, close friend of mine for a long time.
“So Freddie and Mike are my natural choices but the next two are going to be harder,” said Love.
He indicated he would make those known in coming weeks.
And Love indicated he will also have his brother involved in some way, also.
“I’m still thinking about my brother, what’s his role going to be as he’s been involved in everything I’ve done in golf since we went to the ’85 Q‑school,” said Love.
“I told him I want him there sitting in the golf cart with me, but it might be better if he wasn’t an assistant captain, just sit in the golf cart and tell me what to do. Help me with if a guy’s swing is off.
“So I’d love to have my brother Mark there,and if some guy says, I’m hitting it bad, come watch me hit balls; okay, bring my brother, somebody that knows what they’re doing. So I want him around, but I don’t know if being an assistant captain is the most effective role for him.”
And in a change to four of the last five Ryder Cup’s, Love revealed this year’s Ryder Cup will commence with Foursomes rather than Fourballs.
The only time in the last five Ryder Cups the biannual event commenced with Foursomes was in 2008 at Valhalla and with the USA securing three of the four points.
This is in contrast to 2004 when Europe won the opening session of Fourballs 3 ½ to ½ point, the 2006 Fourballs in Ireland 2 ½ to 1 ½ but with America securing a 2 ½ to 1 ½ advantage over Europe in 2010 at Celtic Manor.
“We feel like with our team, the way it’s shaping up, the way it’s played in the past, that’s a good thing for us to do right off the bat in the morning,” said Love.
“The players that I’ve talked to were either for it or heavily for it. So I think we have a lot of confidence that we’re better at that format than people think we are.”
