Baker-Finch named assistant captain for Presidents Cup

— -- AKRON, Ohio -- Gary Player had no trouble making his two captain's picks for the Presidents Cup. The hard part was finding an assistant captain for the International team. Player finally selected former British Open champion Ian Baker-Finch, the congenial Australian who will be helping out for the third time. Baker-Finch also was the assistant captain in 1996 under Peter Thomson and in 2003 under Player when the matches ended in a tie in South Africa. "The assistant was supposed to be the alternate," Baker-Finch said Friday. "Gary told me a few months ago that he would get a player who was unlucky not to make the team. I'm happy to be back." Player first wanted Nick Price, who failed to make the International team for the first time, but was turned down. "He wanted to make the team, and it was just a letdown not making the team that he'd like to be excused from being the vice captain," Player said Tuesday. He also asked Steve Elkington, who many figured would be a captain's pick after his runner-up finish at the PGA Championship. Player instead took Peter Lonard and Trevor Immelman, and Elkington wasn't interested in riding around the Robert Trent Jones Club with only a radio. Others that Players wanted for his assistant were Robert Allenby and Craig Parry. Baker-Finch had no trouble being on a waiting list, and he has no interest in becoming captain one day. "I'm happy to be assistant captain," he said. "If I ever get to be captain, by the time it gets to me, a lot of other guys -- Nicky Price, Greg Norman -- all those guys should be captain before me." U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus will have Jeff Sluman for the second straight time.