Midweek Musings

I'll be off to play some golf in a bit, so we'll sort through things on an expedited basis.  Not to worry, though, you'll get all the Patrcik "Top 5" Reed that you crave....

Fellow Met. Golf Writers Association member Mark Cannizzaro has the item of the day, with this as the most excerpted bit:

When the US Ryder Cup team’s chartered jet from France arrived in Atlanta on Monday afternoon, word of Patrick Reed’s published rant about being “blindsided’’ by captain

Jim Furyk not pairing him with Jordan Spieth had circulated and left some team members livid at his audacity.

One member of Team USA was shocked when he saw Reed complaining about not being paired with Spieth.

“He is so full of s–t,’’ the source told The Post on Monday. “Blindsided my ass. He begged to play with Tiger.’’

Seems like whoever decided that in-flight WiFi was unnecessary made a good call.  Though that just had to be an awkward five hours.

But is it possible that this might be the worst bit from our Patrick?

According to the Times story, Reed claimed Woods “apologized’’ to him after they lost their Friday fourball (best ball) match to Molinari and Fleetwood.

As I've always understood the rules of engagement, what happens in Tigerworld stays in Tigerworld.

As noted yesterday, Tiger is to be the captain of next year's Presidents Cup team, so it might be a relatively short wait to see how this plays out.  Of course, that appointment of Tiger predates his career revival, so perhaps might be deferred until a later date.

That unnamed player had more to day as well:

Instead, Reed was benched in the afternoon, as was Woods. The next morning, Reed again played with Woods and lost to Molinari and Fleetwood in a match in which Reed hit more balls in the water than a 15-handicapper would. 

“He would have shot 83 on his own ball Saturday,’’ the source said. “He totally screwed Tiger. He has no clue how to play team golf. I saw firsthand how bad of a team player he was. Eleven players understood the concept of team golf and only one didn’t. 

Unfortunately, that one proved to be too costly for the team to overcome. 

“I feel so bad for Jim, because he was an unreal captain. He would have run through a wall for all 12 of the guys. Unfortunately, there were only 11 players that would have returned the favor.’’

I had heard that it was more like an 85, but I guess we won't know for sure until he posts....  Does that score get a "T", or not because it is, after all, just an exhibition?

But wait, there's more....  Curmudgeonly James Corrigan with the dirt:

Anger among the United States team over their dismal Ryder Cup defeat boiled over in

the post-match festivities when their two top-ranked players, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, had to be ­separated after a flare-up. 

So much for this new era of Stars and Stripes camaraderie. Witnesses recounted how the pair almost came to blows after they had been invited into the Europe team room, a few hours after the resounding home success at Le Golf National.

The reason for the bust-up was not known, but it was a huge ­surprise as they are regarded as best friends. They played together in the Saturday afternoon foursomes, when they were beaten by Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson. They work out at a Florida gym together and their similar big-hitting styles earned them the nickname of the “Bash Brothers”. How appropriate that seems now.

It's almost encouraging that they show any emotion after the pummeling they took.

But this has me very confused:

Johnson’s partner, Paulina Gretzky, prompted rumours of a rift between the pair when she deleted every picture of Koepka from her Instagram account. She was said to be close by when the row erupted. One of the European players’ wives also witnessed the incident, and an insider reported that she was “clearly shocked and upset by the nastiness, which was very threatening”.

Say what?  I though I had heard that she deleted pictures of DJ?  Did she do this instead or in addition to?

Joel Beall adds to my confusion:

On Tuesday, L'Équipe, a French publication, reported a separate fight between Johnson and Koepka occurred earlier in the week on the team plane.

On the flight over?  I guess DJ really wanted that window seat....

In the interest of fairness (I know, why start now?), there's this denial:

When reached for comment, Koepka's representation denied the story. "From what I gather I believe someone made this story up," said Blake Smith, Koepka's agent. "Nothing to report on our end." At the time of this article's publication, Johnson's agent has not responded to a request for comment.

 In The Grind, Alex Myers shares this from No Laying Up's D.J. Piehowski:

But now he's got to redo it adding The Bash Brothers....

Alex also makes a point that I made on the golf course Sunday, that Tiger and Phil might have cost themselves a pretty penny:

Tiger and Phil: The two legends went a combined 0-6 to make their anything-but-legendary career Ryder Cup records even worse. Of course, Tiger deserves more blame having lost four of those matches and having arrived in France fresh off his Tour Championship triumph. But a struggling Mickelson, who would not have reacted well to not making the squad, proved to be a total waste of a pick. Unless you count his belly being used as a team rallying point. How much are these guys charging for THE MATCH again?

Really, who's gonna watch this thing now?  I mean besides Sergio...

Did someone mention Sergio?  He not only took the U.S. to school on the golf course, but he conducted a Master Class in trolling and settling old scores with this:

So when SkyTV caught up with Garcia and asked what it felt like to hit the all-time mark felt, the 2017 Masters champ let loose: 

“This means a lot to me,” Garcia said. “I have passed some of my heroes today—and Nick Faldo.” 

The Ryder Cup is over. But let the records show Garcia managed one final point.

Heh, well played Serge.  Here's the background:

Nick Faldo is on the short list of greatest players in European golf history. His time as Ryder Cup captain, however, were not as prosperous. Faldo was at the helm of the 2008 team that was upset by an American journeymen squad, a result bad in itself. Not helping matters was Faldo's rapport with the media and his own team, infamously calling Garcia, Europe's biggest star, "useless" at Valhalla. Garcia, who had scored 8.5 points in his previous two Ryder Cups, managed an 0-2-2 record that week.

Patrick, I do hope you're taking notes.  Not only did he do it with that humorous light touch, be he chose a target that others hate as well.  

While Patrick did give himself the benefit of firing the first shot, his choice of targets and timing will leave a bad taste in his teammates mouths....Back to Alex Myers, with his quote of the week:

QUOTE OF THE WEEK 

Pick a Patrick Reed quote, any Patrick Reed quote. There’s this: 

"I was looking at [Jordan] like I was about to light the room up like Phil in ’14.” 

Or this: "The issue’s obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me.” 

Or this: "For somebody as successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don’t think it’s smart to sit me twice.” 

I didn’t think it could get better than Reed complaining about the seats the PGA Tour gave him to a recent Red Sox game at Fenway park. Whoops.

No doubt Patrick meant someone as successful in the Ryder Cup as he WAS....  I gather Patrick never took a stats course at Augusta State, because that sample size was awfully small....

But only Patrick would want to copycat Phil at the exact moment that the rest of the world realized how full of it Phil was....  Priceless!  Then again, nobody ever thought Patrick to be the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Brian Wacker has this item about the Patrick and Justine kerfuffle, with this as his closer:

Before Reed could respond, Furyk, being the good chief he is, fell on the sword and interjected. 

“Jordan and Patrick have been great in the past,” he said. “Whether that’s a point of contention or not I felt we had two great pairings out of it. So it was totally my decision and my call.” 

And it was a call that, like many this week, will continue to get scrutinized for a long time to come.

I don't actually think that Furyk was such a good chief, but he's a good human being....  But that last bit seems all wrong.  I think all Patrick has accomplished is to bring the heat onto himself, providing the obvious rationale for Jordan not wanting to team with him.  Also, in the context of his own bad play, it seems to be a post hoc rationalization, and exactly nobody likes a whiner....

Alex closed with some not-so-rhetorical questions:

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER 

Was that Johnny Miller’s final Ryder Cup? 

Was that Patrick Reed’s final Ryder Cup? 

Why do we have to wait two more years to find out?

On the bright side, this adds a dollop of frisson the next year's Presidents Cup, no?  I don't whether Patrick will play in any of these team events in the future, but can't think he should be expecting to be the recipient of any captain's picks.....

Luke Kerr Dineen is the first-to-the-post with suggestions for Task Force II, though given that he's half-English, half-American it's not a given that he's trying to be helpful:

1. 12 Captain’s Picks 

This idea made the rounds on Monday after the Ryder Cup, and it’s one that has been tossed around before. Why not, instead of allowing players to play their way in, we just let the captain pick them all? That way it’s all on him. He can pick specific players for specific formats — an issue that has plagued the U.S. team in the past — and pairings would presumably be easier to manufacture. Of course, Furyk’s captain’s picks went a combined 2–10–0 in 2018, so maybe that’s not the best strategy…

This would obviously be immediately dubbed The Reed Rule...  Which might be a good idea.

And while these two are of course quite inconceivable, they'll have certain heads nodding in agreement:

4. Ryder Cup Q-School

The problem with season long qualifying is always the same: Somebody wins a major in 2017 or early 2018, guarantees himself a spot on the team, starts playing terribly and stinks up the place at the Ryder Cup (see: Reed, Patrick). So how about this: Designate — or create, even — one event per year close to the event that acts as Ryder Cup Q-School. You could invite the top 30 or so Americans in the official World Rankings, make them play a course similar to the one the Ryder Cup is about to be held on — or even the course itself — and the Top 12 finishers go to the Ryder Cup. Simple.

5. Poor Play Bans

Yes, this may seem draconian. In truth, it probably is. But what if the problem with the U.S. Ryder Cup team is that there’s no negative ramifications for playing poorly? Guys can make the Ryder Cup team, play poorly, then make the team and play poorly again. It’s an endless cycle — but no more. Oh, you play poorly? Guess what? You’re banned for the next Ryder Cup!

Draconian? Perhaps.

Stupid? Yea, probably.

But who knows, maybe it’d actually light a fire underneath these players.

Or, you know, our guys could just suck it up and play better....

I'll leave you with this compilation of reflections (lessons, they call them) from Golf Magazine's writing staff.  Alan Shipnuck, whose prediction of an era of U.S. dominance has been a part of the story, writes of the Euro teams press conference:

Despite evidence to the contrary, I do have feelings. When countless strangers say mean things about you it’s hard not to feel a little blue. I slinked into the European team’s victorious press conference knowing more comeuppance awaited, especially because

vice captain Lee Westwood had already been hazing me on Twitter. But then something unexpected happened: the players were utterly charming. As soon as Ian Poulter sat down at the dais he locked eyes with me in the sixth row, raised his champagne glass and winked. Sergio Garcia, wearing the biggest cat-that-ate-the-canary grin I’ve ever seen, gave me a little wave. There was no edge to these interactions. The vibe was too festive for that. Rory McIlroy interrupted some otherwise cogent remarks about team chemistry to ask the room where I was sitting. I raised my hand and the whole team pounded the dais and yelled a teasing, “Heeeeeeey!” It happened again when I asked Francesco Molinari a question about his singles opponent Phil Mickelson, whom I was writing a story about. 

As the press conference ended a few of the players and their captain, Thomas Bjorn, cheekily shouted their thanks to me for my contributions to the European victory. With all of that, a fog lifted. It was edifying to feel this generosity of spirit. The players get it, much more than I expected. The Ryder Cup is the biggest show in golf, replete with gala dinners, musical entertainment and multiple wardrobe changes. For better and for worse, my spoutings had become part of the show. It made the victory a tiny bit sweeter for the European team and, apparently, a lot more enjoyable for its fans. It certainly gave many of us something to talk about during what was otherwise a Cup that lacked any drama. Maybe being woefully wrong isn’t so bad after all.

The only downside is that we come away liking their guys more than our own...  or perhaps more accurately, some of our own.