(Sports Network) - One Presidents Cup captain went with the sensible, if not obvious picks. The other went way outside the box.

United States captain Fred Couples played it safe on Tuesday with his two choices. He selected U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan, who were Jack Nicklaus' picks in 2007, for this year's team.

International captain Greg Norman tabbed 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa and Adam Scott, who is mired in a horrendous, yearlong slump, to complete the International side.

"It may be somewhat unexpected," admitted Scott. "I'm humbled. It would be great for my game. I feel like I can contribute points and in the team room as well."

Scott has missed 10 cuts in 18 starts in the 2009 PGA Tour season. He tied for second the second week of the year at the Sony Open in Hawaii, but missed six cuts in a row from late March through the Byron Nelson in late May.

The Aussie, who counts Norman as a career mentor, played in the last three Presidents Cup matches and amassed a 7-6-2 record, but this pick by Norman was something of a reach.

"Everybody goes through slumps," said Norman. "I've been there, but in my conversations with him, I've gotten a huge boost of confidence from Adam. He was a logical choice."

Couples had an easier time with his picks and all but stated Glover and Mahan were his guys weeks prior.

"For Hunter and Lucas, I think it's a no-brainer," said Couples, who left off Scott Verplank, two-time winner this year Brian Gay and Barclays champion from two weeks ago Heath Slocum.

Glover earned his first major title in June when he won the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. He continued a strong run after that major breakthrough with a pair of top-11 finishes the next two weeks.

After taking fifth at the PGA Championship in mid-August, Glover hasn't done much since. He tied for 24th at the Wyndham Championship, missed the cut at The Barclays, the first FedEx Cup Playoff event, and shared 36th at last week's Deutsche Bank Championship.

Two years ago in Canada, Glover went 2-3 in his Presidents Cup debut.

"I'm very excited, very pleased and very humbled," said Glover.

Mahan also went 2-3 in his first Presidents Cup experience, but really made his mark in 2008 at the Ryder Cup. He was one of two players to go in all five sessions and went 2-0-3, earning a tough halve in the singles.

But, Mahan still has only one victory on tour and that came at the 2007 Travelers Championship.

"Obviously, I'm excited," said Mahan. "I'm honored to be a pick."

Ishikawa may only turn 18 in nine days, but he's won three times in 2009 on the Japan Golf Tour. He took home the Fujisankei Classic on Sunday and will make his Presidents Cup debut.

While Norman's decision to pick Scott was something of a question mark, he didn't have a huge pool from which to choose. Among those left off the team were Rory Sabbatini, K.J. Choi and Jeev Milkha Singh.

The Presidents Cup is scheduled for October 8-11 at Harding Park in San Francisco.

Tiger Woods anchors the American team. Phil Mickelson, Deutsche Bank champion Steve Stricker, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Justin Leonard, Sean O'Hair, Zach Johnson, Anthony Kim and British Open winner Stewart Cink qualified for the team on points.

The automatic qualifiers for the International side are Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas, Robert Allenby, Tim Clark, Mike Weir, Masters champion Angel Cabrera and PGA winner Y.E. Yang.

The U.S. won the Presidents Cup two years ago in Montreal.



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