Golf: Clarke defends Woods' Presidents Cup selection

Ryder Cup star Darren Clarke has defended Tiger Woods' Presidents Cup selection but believes the Americans will have a tough time toppling Greg Norman's Internationals at Royal Melbourne next month.

Clarke, the British Open champion, has vast first hand knowledge of what it takes to beat the powerful US team.

The Northern Ireland star has played for Europe in five Ryder Cup clashes with the Americans and was on the winning team four times before serving as non-playing vice-captain for the win last year.

Norman has turned up the heat for the Presidents Cup by declaring he wouldn't have picked Woods if he'd been in rival captain Fred Couples' shoes.

But Clarke warned "no one wants to play against Tiger Woods", despite the former world No.1 being winless for two years and outside the world top 50 rankings.

Clarke said he could understand Couples' selection dilemma in making Woods one of his two captain's picks.

"A captain is always going to have to leave certain players off a team, that's the tough part of his job," Clarke told AAP.

"My answer is that Tiger has been the best player in the world in the past by a long way and his experience will always compliment his team.

"That's not to say someone like young Keegan Bradley (the US PGA Championship winner) would not have been a great addition to the squad.

"But I can understand where Freddie (Couples) is coming from.

"Tiger is Tiger Woods. Nobody wants to play against Tiger Woods."

Clarke is heading Down Under next month to play in the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum the week after the Presidents Cup, but said he'd be watching the international clash closely.

Norman and Woods were rivals and headline acts when Royal Melbourne last hosted the event in 1998 and Peter Thomson's Internationals recorded their only Presidents Cup win in nine meetings since 1994.

With home ground advantage on the famed course, Clarke believes another upset could be on the cards.

"It's home turf for quite a few of them (Internationals)," he told AAP.

"Traditionally the Americans haven't played well when they travel, not all of them anyway.

"Royal Melbourne is awesome, you've got some of the best courses in the world down there and Royal Melbourne is amazing.

"It's great for Australia to have that quality of players and teams down there again because your tournaments and your golf courses deserve it.

"It'll be a fantastic event and I'll be glued to the TV watching it."

- AAP