After losing the Ryder Cup over the weekend for the fifth time in the last six competitions, the United States team is certainly an easy target for criticism and the golf writers are taking dead aim:
The Houston Chronicle’s golf columnist Steve Campbell channels Dan Jenkins and Jack Burke in this tongue-in-cheek column that preceded the final day’s matches. Campbell follows that column with this fine article on the emotional performance of Euro team member, Darren Clarke.
Lawrence Donegan of the Guardian pretty well summed up the U.S. squad’s effort:
[S]o one-sided was the contest that at times during yesterday’s session of 12 singles matches it seemed the impossible was on the cards – a Ryder Cup without drama.
Scott Michaux in the Augusta Chronicle is not particularly happy (registration required) with Chris DiMarco, who contributed all of 1/2 point to the U.S. team’s score during the matches:
The only thing more embarrassing than the final result was DiMarco fist-pumping his birdie on the 17th hole that extended his match with Lee Westwood. His comeback effort from five down with seven to go against a player who was ill overnight and carrying a fever on the course was meaningful only to himself. It was like doing a dance after a sack with your team trailing by seven touchdowns. Hitting two balls in the water on the 18th was his just reward.
The Golf Gazette’s Ken Carpenter recommends an easy way to improve the U.S. team next time around — ditch Phil Mickelson (1/2 point in this Ryder Cup):
If Phil Mickelson wants to ìshut it downî after the PGA Championship every year, then he should give up his spot on the team and go to the beach. In the last two Ryder Cups heís 1-7-1; in the last two Presidents Cups heís 3-5-2 ó thatís an abysmal 4-12-3 record, totally unacceptable for someone annually ranked in the top three in the world. In 2008, Mickelson needs to play his way into shape prior to the event ó assuming he isnít fully retired by that point.
By the way, just to put Mickelson’s Ryder Cup futility in perspective, Arnold Palmer was 22-8-2, Jack Nicklaus 17-8-3 and Lee Trevino 17-7-6 in Ryder Cup competition.
Martin Johnson of the Daily Telegraph describes the victory toast of European captain Ian Woosnam, a fellow who has been known to knock back a few:
After spending months practising his speeches in front of the bedroom mirror, one of golf’s great bon viveurs had promised himself a small libation at the end of it all, but we didn’t think this would involve an attempt to down an entire jeroboam of champagne in one herculean swig. The end result was a blowback of such Vesuvian proportions that the eruption of escaping champagne flew out of every visible orifice bar Woosie’s ears.
And the Chicago Tribune’s Ed Sherman projects the U.S. roster for the 2012 matches at the Chicago-area course Medinah, and includes the following jab:
Michelle Wie: She couldn’t do any worse than her predecessors.
Tom, I really enjoy your blog. Fresh thoughts and a reverance for Dan Jenkins bring me back every time.
I’d like to share my thoughts on the Ryder Cup, even though I’m worn out from listening to everyone else’s excuses, theories and ideas.
The reason the US lost, lost and lost the last three (and will probably lose the next one) is simple. The Euros WANT to win the thing. The US team EXPECTS to win, but wanting something and expecting it are, as you all know, two very different things.
Forget talent. Forget team depth. If you’re among the top-1000 golfers in the world, you have a chance to win in match play. Simple as that. And if you add in a pinch of desire, you will probably beat anyone. Anyone.
I like the idea of the captain picking all 12 players, but not because I think we need to change the system in order to win. I just think that if I were captain, I’d want to pick the 12 guys I thought could beat their 12. Whatever system they’re using now is based on guys (with one exception: TW) who play golf just well enough to keep playing the Tour. And stroke play, at that.
My guess is the US could field a team of the 12 best Division-1 seniors and do a better job of tackling the mighty Euros. Why? Hunger. Passion. Love of golf and love of competition. All traits that seem lost on the PGA Tour.
CW, my sense is that the American players want to win as badly as the Euro players, but now they are just so keyed up about the competition that they can’t putt worth a darn. On the other hand, the Euro players feed from the American players’ desperation and putt extraordinarily well as a group. I tend to agree that the U.S. captain should be able to choose more of the players, but I do think that performance should have something to do with being on the team to avoid the situation where a captain would choose a personal favorite over a clearly superior player. However, regardless of the way the U.S. team is chosen, if the team members can’t unwind enough to putt as well as they do in the regular Tour events, then the Euro team’s dominance is not going to end anytime soon.
Thanks for reading Clear Thinkers.
Thanks, Tom. A few more comments before I quit pestering. I hope my narrow-minded opinions don’t disqualify me from association with true “clear thinkers.”
About captain’s picks: Tom Lehman’s picks of Verplank and Cink may or may not have been “right,” but it seemed crazy to not pick Davis Love and Fred Couples, who have valuable RC experience and who both seem to have more passion for the Matches than they do for majors. And in my opinion, they are better competitors than seven of the players on the 2006 team.
Look at Lehman’s assistant captains: Pavin, Ogrin, Roberts, Waldorf. I can understand Pavin and the whole “dog in the fight/fight in the dog” thing, but what about the others? How much inspiration can a team gather from those three?
Two things about putting:
1. Under pressure, the harder you try, the more putts you make. I don’t care what golf instructors say about “loosening up,” “freewheeling” or “having fun out there.” If you want to win more than your opponent, you’ll make more putts than him. Or you’ll keep your ball in play. Or you’ll hit it closer. Or all of the above.
2. Someone (Jimmy Roberts, maybe) asked Woosnam if his control of the course setup (slower greens) may have helped his team. He said something like, “Sure, it may be helping.” If the US team is more accustomed to putting faster greens, that may have been a factor. But aren’t these guys THE BEST GOLFERS IN THE WORLD and can they not adapt after the first session? (Woosie also said that he wanted his players to have fun but reminded them that it’s only fun when you win.)
Also on the subject of “wanting it more,” I think the Euros always want to beat the Americans. If they do, it’s a big deal. They took down the mighty US. If the US beats Europe, then so what? They were supposed to. That said, with all the people talking about another loss at Valhalla, the US team will probably see it as a big deal to beat Europe in 2008, which will make them want it more. Which, based on my theory, will end in a champagne shower on the US side.
Furyk said his teammates “played their guts out.” BS. The best golfers in the world don’t hit it in the water when they’re grinding. And they don’t lose that badly if they’re grinding. Furyk, I think, does and did grind. He should speak for himself. If I had to choose someone other than Tiger to make a six-footer to save my life, I’d give Jim the nod.
Sorry to ramble on about my simple theory of why we lost, but nothing else has made sense to me so far. Here’s to hoping the above does to your readers.
-cw
CW, you’re going to have a hard time convincing folks that more pressure makes better putters. Maybe more concentration makes better putters, but I don’t think that any of the Americans in the Ryder Cup — Mickelson excepted — lacked concentration.
Neither Couples nor Love has played particularly well recently and both have struggled with their putting, although several of the players on the Ryder Cup team had the same problem, too. All things considered, you’re probably right that it’s better to have fellows like Couples and Love be Captain’s picks rather than allowing back-end players such as Wetterich and Taylor flail away.
Your point about Lehman’s dubious choices on his assistants actually undermines your point on the Captain’s picks. My sense is splitting the squad so that half the players make it on merit and half are Captain’s picks may be the right blend.
My sense is that all of the Americans except Mickelson prepared and played their hearts out, and Mickelson played hard, he just wasn’t prepared. The bottom line is that when you start to think that you’re not going to make putts, it usually turns out that way. That’s where the Americans are right now with regard to the Ryder Cup, and it’s going to take a master therapist as a Captain to get them over that pervasive feeling.