Knife Damage Assessment

As a sophisticated consumer of golf media, there's a predictable ebb and flow to stories as each side leaks furiously to support their position.  Fortunately you have Unplayable Lies to piss off both sides...

First up let me acknowledge how poorly I called things.... for those who were sober in the lead-up to the event, you remember back in those simpler times when the most pressing issue was whether a certain pair of litigious Ulstermen could set aside their differences for the good of an "ever-closer union".  I took a stab (heh) at the outcome, positing GMac in the library with the candelabra.... in my defense, did anyone call Phil at the press conference with a shiv?

So Dear Reader, any guesses at what we've learned overnight?  I thought you would...

Tom Was Really Mean To Us 

My old friend Tim Rosaforte bats leadoff, with news that after warming up for the afternoon play, Phil was informed via text message that he would be a cheerleader.  It's  unfortunately in digital format, but do click through to remind yourself of Phil's early unveiling of his Michelin Man Halloween costume.

Alan Shipnuck seems to also be on the Rancho Santa Fe payroll, with this offering:

But this is the very mentality that has gotten the U.S. into this mess. It is folly to keep

waiting for the players to fix everything by magically playing better. A culture of losing must first be eradicated. The Americans’ approach to leadership must fundamentally change. 

Watson made little effort to get to know his charges or do any team building beyond a few get-off-my-lawn speeches. He was a remote and disengaged figure in the run-up to the Cup, and once the competition began, he had little understanding of how his players were feeling, physically or emotionally. (It didn’t help that two of his vice captains -- Ray Floyd, 72, and Andy North, 64 -- are decades removed from playing the Tour and the third, Steve Stricker, 47, is now a part-timer.)

Don't know about you, but I can't stop rereading that second sentence.  It's folly I tell you to expect our guys to play well... Shipnuck goes into bitch mode about Ted Bishop ducking him after the press conference (which we can all agree didn't go according to Hoyle) and throws this out:

This pass-the-buck reflex has become endemic on the U.S. side, and it was Watson’s continued blaming of the players that helped push Mickelson over the edge. He was not alone in being miffed with his captain. A veteran of multiple U.S. teams told me in the aftermath, “A lot of s--- went on behind the scenes that people don’t know about. It will all leak out eventually. People talk about Hal Sutton and Lanny Wadkins, but Watson is going to be remembered as 10 times worse.”

Alan, your anonymous source seems to be under the misapprehension that Tom was hired to be a coach and older brother.  In reality he was hired to be a savior, and guys that apply for that position are gonna do it their own way.  So we're gonna hear lots of stories about how bad a captain Watson was, and let's just stipulate as to that fact so we don't waste too much time in that cul de sac.

But Shipnuck, who's a good writer, loses me with this:

Anyway, McGinley had strong support among the players because of a pair of successful 

captaincies at the Seve Cup. This grooming of captains is another way in which the two sides differ, with Europe enjoying a far-reaching advantage. The Presidents Cup could be a platform for auditioning unorthodox Ryder Cup candidates -- how about Joe Ogilvie or Butch Harmon or Jim Mackay or Brandel Chamblee? -- but the PGA Tour treats it as if it’s an important event, and commissioner Tim Finchem has opted for the box office of old-timers like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Ken Venturi to lead the U.S. Europe is also cagier in its use of vice captains.

Two major points need to be made here.  First, the selection of McGinley was hardly the Kumbaya moment its portrayed as, as both Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie made last-ditch efforts to derail it and McGinley remains bitter.

Secondly, I love the last bit which makes perfect sense, unless, you know, you live in the real world.  Apparently he's forgotten that there are two organization with PGA in their titles, and the one he cites has no vested interest in the Ryder Cup (having foolishly let the PGA of America reatin those rights when the organization split into two parts, though it wasn't worth much back then).

In fact, Shipnuck is barking entirely up the wrong tree, as the PGA Tour has done far worse to undermine U.S. preparedness for the Ryder Cup through the absurdly taxing schedule of events in late summer/early fall.  All those events, the WGC and the FedEx Cup are Commissioner Ratched's reaction to not controlling any of the 4.5 events a year that matter.  Remember how the top Euro players were skipping FedEx events?  Which team looked better rested to you?

Phil Is Telling an Uncomfortable Truth

John Hawkins, again a usually sober soul, has this one covered in his weekly Hawk's Nest feature:

So throw this at the wall and see if it sticks: Mickelson’s post-rout callout of Watson might not be such a terrible thing. Lefty’s willingness to compare this latest ill-fated captaincy with that of victorious U.S. skipper Paul Azinger (2008) came with an underlying message: Let’s get serious, let’s get organized. May we all get sick and tired of getting beaten. 

“He’s just frustrated by not winning,” Azinger told me Sunday evening. “It came to a head.”

And this:

Perhaps it was also necessary, or at the very least, a much-needed attempt to shake up a system that has produced lousy results for far too long. Bishop chose Watson himself. Why is there no committee for such an important appointment? As I wondered here a couple of weeks ago, why are the U.S. captains’ picks made almost a month before the actual matches – before the final two FedEx Cup playoff events?

Yes, I'm sure a committee will solve everything.... what could go wrong?  I do think his last point is a fair one, though they've already moved that date back (the picks used to be made the Monday after the PGA Championship).  Obviously they couldn't have done worse this go 'round with Billy Horschel, but the fact is that the guy who breaks out of the pack at the end is as likely to be already on the team or a Euro in any event.

While I'm relieved that Hawk didn't characterize Phil as "Speaking truth to power," I'm still trying to figure out what this "truth" might be.  Something to do with pods I'm guessing, though I'm troubled that John, like others, uses the rout in foursomes to support his contention that our guys don't play as a team.  Fine, but the U.S. has historically fared better in foursomes than in fourballs, and has lost the singles matches the last two times out.

We Need Another Savior

So, who might that be?  Of course there's only one choice, and fortunately he's done with his motorcycle trip (seriously, that's how Steve DiMeglio leads his piece):

"I'm not going to rule anything out," Azinger, the last victorious U.S. captain in the Ryder Cup, said on Monday.

It's hard to say no when they need you to save them, isn't it?  So, what might motivate him to put the brand at risk?

"It is time for the PGA of America to recognize the great disconnect and formulate the same business model for selecting a captain as it does for selecting its president and

officers," Azinger told USA Today Sports. 

Azinger said Europe follows a similar business model where potential captains build up experience as Ryder Cup vice captains, learning from that year's captain and other vice captains. 

For instance, this year's Europe captain was Paul McGinley, who was a vice captain in 2010 and 2012. The 2012 captain, Jose Maria Olazabal, was a vice captain in 2008 and 2010. This year, Olazabal, Sam Torrance (captain in 2002), Padraig Harrington and Miguel Angel Jimenez were vice captains, with Harrington and Jimenez potential future captains. 

"The PGA of America has officers that move up the ranks, getting sage advice along the way. And then many of them stick around and keep offering advice," Azinger said. "I think the PGA of America should recognize their business model is exactly the same as what Europe uses in selecting a captain."

OK, I don't think this is a bad idea, but anyone care to venture a guess as to what happens when Phil is asked to be a vice captain?   Now I don't know about having captains around as vice captains post hoc, that seems a recipe for disaster, but the Euros pulled it off.  Perhaps they're playing a long con and hoping to lure us into untenable power-sharing agreements.

At the end of the day Robert Lusetich makes more sens than the whole lot of them together:

Mickelson -- who always needs to be the smartest guy in the room -- recounted how great Paul Azinger was as captain because he got players "invested in the process." 

I could stop right there and say, if you're not invested in the process anyway, then don't play. You're representing the United States, and if you can't get up for that does it matter who captains?

And he takes us down memory lane in amusing fashion:

In the Presidents Cup, Mickelson's captains have been Jack Nicklaus and Fred Couples, both hands-off leaders who let the players make decisions.

Corey Pavin certainly wasn't like this --€“ he let his wife run the show, but that's another story -- but Davis Love III was more a peer than a captain.

We had fun with Mrs. Pavin back then, especially over the leaking rain gear.  

But doesn't it really come down to this?

In other words, Phil likes to have his voice heard, and Tom Watson didn't listen.

 Or, in the alternative, you could find some better players...

The Night of Long Knives

I deliberately put this off to see how I'd feel about things in the light of day.  And with the usual caveats that no one died and it's just golf, our hero Phil takes a deserved drubbing...  But let's make sure everyone's on the same page, here's from the transcript of the late Sunday team presser:

Q. Anyone that was on the team at Valhalla, can you put your finger on what worked in 2008 and what hasn't worked since?

PHIL MICKELSON: There were two things that allow us to play our best I think that

Paul Azinger did, and one was he got everybody invested in the process. He got everybody invested in who they were going to play with, who the picks were going to be, who was going to be in their pod, who -- when they would play, and they had a great leader for each pod.

In my case, we had Ray Floyd, and we hung out together and we were all invested in each other's play. We were invested in picking Hunter that week; Anthony Kim and myself and Justin were in a pod, and we were involved on having Hunter be our guy to fill our pod. So we were invested in the process. And the other thing that Paul did really well was he had a great game plan for us, you know, how we were going to go about doing this. How we were going to go about playing together; golf ball, format, what we were going to do, if so-and-so is playing well, if so-and-so is not playing well, we had a real game plan. Those two things helped us bring out our best golf. And I think that, you know, we all do the best that we can and we're all trying our hardest, and I'm just looking back at what gave us the most success. Because we use that same process in The Presidents Cup and we do really well. Unfortunately, we have strayed from a winning formula in 2008 for the last three Ryder Cups, and we need to consider maybe getting back to that formula that helped us play our best.

Q. That felt like a pretty brutal destruction of the leadership that's gone on this week.

PHIL MICKELSON: Oh, I'm sorry you're taking it that way. I'm just talking about what Paul Azinger did to help us play our best. It's certainly -- I don't understand why you would take it that way. You asked me what I thought we should do going toward to bring our best golf out and I go back to when we played our best golf and try to replicate that formula.

Q. That didn't happen this week?

PHIL MICKELSON: Uh (pausing) no. No, nobody here was in any decision. So, no.

OK, so no quotes out of context.... and here's Watson's retorts:

Q. Can you tell us what you think of what Phil said about Paul Azinger?

TOM WATSON: I had a different philosophy as far as being a captain of this team.

You know, it takes 12 players to win. It's not pods. It's 12 players. And I felt -- I based my decisions on -- yes, I did talk to the players, but my vice captains were very instrumental in making decisions as to whom to pair with. I had a different philosophy than Paul. I decided not to go that way. But I did have most of them play in the practise rounds together who played most of the time in the matches. I think that was the proper thing to do. Yes, I did mix-and-match a little bit from there, but again, you have to go with the evolution of the playing of the match and see who is playing the best and who to play with whom, and that's what I did.

Q. Every two years the two captains come in and say the hardest part of their job is benching people. Four years ago with all the problems at Celtic Manor, we had everybody playing in every format. Would you like to see that as part of the game? Seems to have 12 of the best players in the world and each time having four sitting in each session.

TOM WATSON: Yes, I would. I would like to see the change in that format. Then everybody knows they are going to go 36 holes and then everybody knows that they have to be in shape to play. That's one of the important decisions that I may have missed is playing, say, Jimmy Walker for four straight rounds, two 36-hole matches. And if that wasn't up to my decision, then every player wouldn't understand that. 

The video is available from Golf Channel here, but it's only of the first lengthy answer from Phil, and it excludes his Academy Award-worthy reaction that anyone could possibly construe his comments to reflect poorly on Captain Watson.  But it is worth a watch just to see the unfortunate Hunter Mahan's eyes darting around as he realizes where this is going...

So, wondering how the pundits have reacted?  Wonder no more (and I'm going to piggyback on Shackelford's extensive aggregation services):

Rex Hoggard had a relatively mild reaction:

In one of the most awkward moments in U.S. Ryder Cup history, Watson seemed to fire back moments later. 

“You know, it takes 12 players to win. It's not pods. It's 12 players,” he said.

Hoggard also helpfully provided this follow-up from Jim ("Alas, Poor") Furyk, who was asked about the comparisons between Azinger and Watson:

“I think that I have a lot of respect for both gentlemen. I've known Phil my entire life. And I have a lot of respect for our captain,” Furyk said. 

“I know he put his heart and soul in it for two years. He worked his ass off to try to provide what he thought would be the best opportunity for us. I don't think it's wise for either one of us to be pitted in the middle of that.”

There's a wiley vet who wants no part of this, at least at that moment of peak raw nerves.  Gene Wojciechowski  had this take at ESPN:

It was a stunning moment. No USA player has played in more Ryder Cup matches than

Mickelson. So when he questioned the logic of Watson, and by association, 2012 captain Davis Love III and 2010 captain Corey Pavin -- and does so in a public setting and not long after the latest loss -- it carried considerable weight.

The 65-year-old Watson stared wearily ahead as Mickelson spoke. Asked if he thought Mickelson was being "disloyal," Watson said, "Not at all. ... That's OK. My management philosophy is different than his."

It was bizarre, odd and surprisingly candid. But most of all, it was revealing. If Mickelson felt this way, how many others on the team shared his feelings?

I think Gene's most useful contribution is to remind us that Phil threw Corey Pavin and Davis Love under the bus with Cap'n. Tom, though does anyone remember similar comments at the Medinah press conference.

Then there's Martin Samuel, who doesn't pull any punches:

There was a war; an American, and not particularly civil, war. At the post-Ryder Cup inquest, Phil Mickelson sat on the right wing of the top table and took down his captain Tom Watson as brutally as any field assassin. 

That he did this in cool, measured, very reasonable tones typical of the man only added to the brutality. It was a polite destruction; a highly restrained mugging; a thoroughly decent battering.

Jason Sobel has some analogies he'd like to share with us:

In the demure world of golf, this was the verbal equivalent to Reggie Jackson brawling with Billy Martin in a dugout or Latrell Sprewell going for the throat of P.J. Carlesimo.

I was hoping to live out my remaining days without further mention of Latrell Sprewell, and certainly didn't think I would trip over him on the golf beat.  Later in the piece Sobel gets off his best line, referring to Phil's comments as a "Passive-aggressive coup," though perhaps some kind reader can point me to the passive part.

You'll also no doubt be glad to know that Brandel Chamblee hasn't been scarred by his time in the woodshed, as John Strege reports:

Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee slammed Phil Mickelson for his post-Ryder Cup comments, made with U.S. captain Tom Watson sitting on the same dais, calling it “as close to a one-man mutiny” that he’s ever seen.

“If you’re looking for a reason why the United States continues to lose, you just saw it in one man. Phil Mickelson. Phil Mickelson, along with the best players of that era, have so corrupted the experience of the Ryder Cup for their fellow competitors by not having records anywhere near what they should, given their rank in the game. 

“Players of an era who are the best go to the Ryder Cup and show off. And not goof off. Phil Mickelson in 2004 changed clubs at the Ryder Cup the week of. And the day before, he went to practice to another golf course. This is yet another example of not coming together as a team.

Yeah, I'll come back to this later, but Phil is, to say the least, an imperfect messenger given his Ryder Cup record.

You might also be interested on this Tim Rosaforte Golf Channel piece in which he reveals that he and Phil texted Saturday evening about Phil's frustration at the lack of communication from Watson, and asserted that he's not the only one that felt that way.

No doubt you're getting the gist of the reaction, but on the day after everyone jumped on the knifing analogy.  First, from the Sports Illustrated roundtable:

BAMBERGER: I thought Brandel's response was more interesting. Phil obviously doesn't like Watson and he had the ideal platform to let the world know. Watson's been doing the same thing to others for years, most notably Woods, Gary McCord, liberals. I've been worried that Brandel lost his bite ever since GC dressed him down after he took on Woods' moving ball at the BMW last year. He was consistent here, standing up for golf's gentlemanly tradition. I happen not to agree with Brandel -- I think Phil was doing to Watson what he's done to Finchem and Mike Davis and various others. Letting them know how he feels. He makes golf more interesting. How about Mahan when Phil was going on about pods? His eyes were like, What fresh hell is this? Watson sat Phil, and Phil wasn't going to sit there and take it.

LYNCH: It is clear there is a mutual antipathy between Mickelson and Watson, which wasn't helped by the fact that Watson made public Phil's texting plea to play on Saturday. I suspect that Watson's gaffe was a case of being tone deaf, Phil's was calculated. Autopsies should wait until the corpse is cold. The press conference was not the place to make his point.

As did Neil McLeman, Paul Hayward and James Corrigan.

So, I've gone deep into this post without rendering mush in the way of opinion on the matter.  First of all, I'm with Johnny Miller that the importance of captains is way overrated, though it's of course far easier than figuring out where to go for better players.  

I've noted previously that I never was on board with the Watson selection, as I anticipated that his unburdened-by-doubt personality might not play well with these crazy kids.  It was also a bit strange that he didn't use his vice-captains to somewhat bridge that gap.  But also remember the terms of his retention in the aftermath of the Meltdown at Medinah....  He wasn't hired to be a warm and fuzzy older brother to these guys, he was hired to kick ass and take names.  

Now, I have my criticisms of Watson's decisions as we all do.  I obviously have no insight into the communication, though Watson tacitly admitted above that he left it to his henchmen to communicate, which seems a bit sketchy.

Here's my brief summary of criticisms of Watson's decisions:

1. The Webb Simpson pick:  I hated it, but we all have to acknowledge that there were no good choices.  Yes Chris Kirk had won a tournament, but only because Billy Horschel spit the bit and Billy, of course, got too good too late.
2. Friday Afternoon - To me this is where it all went wrong, as Phil and Keegan should not have been out there.  They didn't play well at all in the a.m., and they're a decidedly better fourball than foursomes team.  I've already given my thoughts on not playing the young guns that day, and they each played four of five sessions.
3. Saturday Morning - I'd love to know how many times he planned to play Phil, because if he's on the team he has to be out there playing his own ball.  That's why you sit him in Friday foursomes (also the windiest day, and Phil is, Muirfield notwithstanding, not a great wind player).  To me it's obvious that you sit them on Friday afternoon and keep your options open for Saturday.
4. Saturday Afternoon - Fowler and Walker were gassed, and sending them back out was a mistake that Watson acknowledged.
5. Sunday - My only critique here was the red pants.  By then it was obvious that he needed early energy on Sunday, but equally obvious that it wouldn't be enough.
6. Other - Not sure where to put this in, but he also sold Webb Simpson down the river.  If he's important enough for a Captain's pick, doesn't he warrant more than one tee time?  

Now I also think McGinley made some mistakes, most notably in his treatment of Stephen Gallacher.  I'm sure McGinley thought he was doing him a favor in sending him out early with Poulter, but it's hard to pin that fiasco on the rookie.  I'd have thought he'd give him another fourball partner on Saturday, especially with a bit of a lead.  

Now, about our Phil, I don't have much good to say in this instance.  I get that he was angry and frustrated at sitting on Friday, indeed how could it have been otherwise?  He was the senior player, and it would be hard to chart a winning scenario in which he wasn't a factor.  He should have been out there Saturday morning, but he also contributed to the benching with his play.

But there is no justification, whatever his issues, for putting the shiv into Watson publicly at that moment.  I'm sure Ted Bishop would be eager to hear Phil's constructive thoughts down the road a bit, but you only need to see Mahan in that video or read Furyk's tortured evasion to understand that he was catching his teammates in the crossfire.  That was a time to console friends and teammates, not to assign blame.

So, we've got that out of the way, let's address one last issue.  Is anyone buying what he's selling, i.e., that it was the pod system that resulted in the 2008 win?  Really?  Does anyone remember seeing the Euros, who have won a few of these things, use such a system?  And didn't Watson have the guys playing practice rounds with those with whom they were paired?  Somehow Reed and Spieth played well together without a pod system, but other didn't?

I think it's inarguable that you need to make the players feel part of the process, not least because of the fact that they play pro bono whilst others make a pretty penny off their labors.  No doubt Paul Azinger did a good job of it, though Davis Love did as well, just only for two days.  This search for an easy fix is a bit silly, as it fails to survive first contact with reality.

But Phil has hurt himself, and it will be interesting how this manifests itself down the road.  I'd think that it would add question marks to his selection as a captain's pick or, dare I say, a captain, in future years.  We all love Phil, at least most of the time, but he'd be well advised to start mending fences in a hurry.

And, just to cheer everyone up, there are two names being bandied about for 2016 captain, namely the aforementioned Azinger and Fred Couples.  Does anyone believe that either is the answer?

The Morning After

Does anyone have any lingering doubts about which was the better team?  Not you, Phil, let's let the other kids have a chance to answer...

I'm going to put the Mickelson-Watson cage match off to the side to discuss in a follow-up post, and deal first with the event and its outcome.  Here's how Allistair Tate framed it:

Get ready for the usual platitudes from another losing U.S. team: They just played better

than us; they holed the putts when it mattered; they jelled better, yada, yada, yada. Sorry, but those excuses don’t wash when you’re on the streak the U.S. is on. 

The U.S. ostensibly lost this match because of two foursomes sessions. Twice they went down by 3.5 points to a half.

Symbolic? Perhaps. 

The U.S. players will disagree, but once again Europeans were a more cohesive unit. Maybe that explains why they dominated the foursomes, the format that calls for utmost unity.

Just as it's often said that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter, so one man's platitudes are this man's....ummm...facts.  Tait's inarguable premise is that the Euro's play better as a team, but his logic is a bit elementary, as he's citing a result as the causality.  And there's a mandatory point deduction for eliding the omission against interest, that in recent years the U.S. has fared better in foursomes than fourballs.

If there's a trend amidst the carnage, it's the ability of the Euros to close out matches and sessions.  All three days followed this pattern, with the U.S. playing well early but ending the day curled up in the corner in a fetal position, call it the Jordan Speith phenomenon.  We've seen this for about two decades now, going back to when Freddie and Davis were dunking balls on the 18th at The Belfry.  

I've always felt that the approximately fifty years of being humiliated in the event pre-Seve resulted in a built-in advantage for the Euros, as they feel like the underdog even when they're not.  There's no doubt in my mind that they had the far superior team this year, but as most of their players come from smaller countries they have perfected the art of playing David the the Ynaks' Goliath.  Now the good news is that this will eventually run it's course, though we might only see that in the term of Captain Sam Woods.

So, shall we look at some winners and losers from the week?

Winners:

The Event:  It's simply the most exciting event in golf, with the Masters a distant second.  And this wasn't even a particularly good example of the genre, as when they're close that last hour or two is a level of drama that veers dangerously close to endangering those with weak tickers.

I still vividly remember staring at the screen in 1999 and repeatedly saying to Theresa that I couldn't see where that last half-point was going to come from, as well as the flip side in 2012. But there's no other event that creates this intensity, and of course it's what we want Olympic Golf to be, but it can't...Seriously, which event in 2016 will be the more significant, the rematch or the stroke play event in Rio?

This is perhaps the one event in golf that has crossover appeal to non-golfers, and you'd hope that golf's powers-that-be would take note. I'm not trying to be Pollyanna here, the intensity of this event is the result of happenstance more than planning, and is hard to recreate. But it's also a testament to power of match-play and a team format, and is it too much to ask that we recognize how drearily predictable golf has become on a week-to-week basis? Am I the only one that felt a tinge of nausea when the first Frys.com promo aired?  Ugh!!!

 

Team Europe - Sometimes that hardest thing to achieve is the expected, so a tip of the cap is

appropriate.  I was struck by the fact that at the close of business Saturday the Euros had gotten precious little form their horses, excepting Justin Rose, yet had an insurmountable 10-6 lead.

They seem to always find the gritty gamers necessary for the event, the Phillip Prices, Paul McGinleys from years gone by to this year's Jamie Donaldson and Victor Dubuisson.  No doubt tied to that underdog thing, but they always have more of them than we do.

Paul McGinley - I actually think that McGinley made as many questionable moves as Cap'n. Tom

did, but he projected an air of calm determination at all times and their backstabbing (see Clarke, Darren and Montgomerie, Colin) stayed deep beneath the surface.  It's almost like they all wanted to win or something...

Jamie Donaldson - I was expecting it to be Stephen Gallacher, but he was misused by McGinley and never had the chance, so it was the Welshman who provided this events "Where has this guy been hiding?" phenomenon.  He looked steely over every makeable putt, and that iron he stiffed to close it out was the perfect marriage of player and opportunity.

Rory and Justin - The only Euros to tee it up in all five sessions, Rose carried the day until Rory woke up.  Rose provided the best sustained level of play in the first three sessions, and his Friday morning fourball pyrotechnics with Stenson was so stunning that Bubba and Kooch didn't even get the license plate of the bus that hit them.

Compare and contrast to the performance of U.S. stalwarts Phil and Alas, Poor Furyk....'nuff said?

Through lunch on Saturday Rory was mostly MIA, though that end-of-business birdie with Sergio on Friday was amongst the most important single hole played over the three days.  But it was his defenestration of Rickie Fowler in singles that will be his legacy, as the ref should have stopped the fight on about the seventh hole.  

Patrick Reed - We've come down a long list of winners before getting to an American, consistent with the lopsided nature of the result.  I usually lean towards the calmer approach, especially in away games, but there's little doubt that the U.S. needs a bit of starch, and Mr. Top Five was about the only example to be found.

Here's no better source than Monty on Reed:

“Patrick Reed, I think, is brilliant,” Montgomerie said during his NBC stint at the Ryder Cup on Sunday. “America needed 12 of these guys. If there were 12 Patrick Reeds on this team you wouldn’t be down 10-6, I can assure you. I think he’s fantastic, I really do.”

No doubt that's true, but let's remember that he backed it up with some really good play.  

Graeme McDowell - Solidified his rep as a big-game player with a great comeback in the opening match.  Likely he's at the top of the list for Captain's picks in 2016 if his play doesn't qualify automatically, and his pairing with Dubuisson in foursomes was formidable.  But his game is tailor-made for foursomes, and kudos to McGinley for going his homework.

Victor Dubuisson - I have zero clue as to how this guy's career is going to evolve, but I know that it's going to be a fun ride.  The camera just loves him, and he seems to have a big-time game. 

Employee No. 2 - A shout-out to the bride is called for, and not just because today is our anniversary.  First, she was a great sport about my turning our living room into my Ryder Cup mancave, as well as the significant time-shifting needed for your humble blogger to see all of the event.

Second, a great call on the marquee singles match-up.  When I noted at the close of business Saturday that we at least had the Fowler-Rory match to amuse us, she immediately responded that it would be a Rory walkover.  

Lastly, make of this what you will.  In watching the enigmatic Dubuisson she concluded that he's a man that doesn't like being touched.  I have no clue where to go with that one, so you're on your own...

The only other Americans that could conceivably be considered winners are Jimmy Walker and Matt Kuchar.  Now the fun part...

Losers:

Rickie Fowler - I expected far more from Rickie, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.  I don't think he

was served well by being thrown out there in all five sessions, but for the U.S. to have had a chance on Sunday he needed to at least put up a fight against Rory.

The Bubbameister - Oy vey, where does one start?  Let's remember that Webb was only on the team because he was reputed to be the Bubba-whisperer....and how did that work out?  He did play better on Friday with Kooch, but he sure mailed it in on Sunday.

I remember watching him rile up the crowd at Medinah as Luke Donald stood placidly in the background, and knowing instinctively how the match would turn out.  I had the same reaction when I saw the Kaymer pairing, and the German hadn't even played particularly well 'till then.  It's not helpful that one of our premiere players is a delicate flower, but pace Donald Rumsfeld, you go to war with the Bubba you have.

Tom Watson - More on this later, but I was never convinced that the notoriously strong-willed Watson would be a great fit with this generation of entitled players, and he doesn't seem to have made much attempt to bridge that generational gap.  That said, he had the weaker hand form day-one, and I don't think a five=point drubbing is the result of a failure to communicate.

Jordan Spieth - Through about eight holes on Sunday he was one of the few heroes, but ended his week as the poster child for the American's inability to close.  I don't want to overstate this, as he's far

too young to be pigeon-holed as one of those guys that becomes a gazillionaire through an endless series of top-fives.  That said, he's shown a troubling inability to get to the clubhouse and I'll feel better about him being a future Ryder Cup stalwart when he gets over that hurdle.

Keegan Bradley - With apologies to my dear friend Glenn, who loves the guy, but is there a more overrated player on the planet?  To me he's the example of a guy with the fire who doesn't back it up.  I didn't like his pairing against Rory in 2012, especially when Rory arrived late, but can someone please explain what happened yesterday.  When Jamie Donaldson rolls you, that should be a wake-up call...  

Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood -  Not sure they're correctly characterized, as while I think this is the end of their Ryder Cup careers they went out with a win.  Westwood played reasonably well with Jamie Donaldson, especially in alternate shot, though didn't make much of a showing Sunday.

Poulter played embarrassingly badly, missing more short putts (and missing them badly) in three days than in his whole career.  He took Stephen Gallacher down with him on Friday, and only a softball pairing against Webb Simpson in the C-Flight allowed him to escape with an unblemished Ryder Cup singles record.  And he'll always have Paris Medinah...

More later on Phil and Watson...

Sunday Preview

I've a good five minutes to post something pithily upbeat, a tall order indeed. I'm just struggling to understand why you would bother to fly to Scotland only to phone it in in foursomes....<rim shot> I'll be here all week folks, please remember to tip your waitress.

The overnight press is being quite harsh on our Cap'n. Tom, and it may well turn out that all those

souls who voiced concerns about the age gap between Watson and the team may have been onto something. But it's equally true that the Euros have better and deeper talent, and anyone familiar with the event will tell you that foursomes separate the men from the Junior Ryder Cuppers.

I went to length to defend Tom not sending his young guns out Friday afternoon, and stand by that call. In the interim we find out that a 3:00 a.m. text from Webb Simpson may have had an outsized effect on Watson's decision-making regarding his picks, but one match is a really short leash for any player.

I was completely perplexed when I heard Friday afternoon that Phil and Keegan weren't in the Saturday morning fourball lineup, never dreaming he would bench them the entire day but also knowing that they're a significantly weaker team in foursomes. Given that short leash, wouldn't it have made more sense to leave them on the bench Friday afternoon. They won Friday morning (though the afternoon pairings were due while the match was still in doubt), but they were really scraping it around.

For now we'll have to console ourselves with a Rickie-Rory singles match, as well as a Whistling Straights mulliggan (Bubba vs. Kaymer). I don't see a huge comeback in these cards, does anyone?  Though if it tightened, Dubuisson in that final match could be swashbuckling good fun....

Day One

It was the best of times....oh heck, you know the rest.

The U.S. parlayed a gutsy, unexpected performance in morning fourballs into a two point deficit.  I had a Tivo malfunction so saw precious little of the afternoon festivities, and what I did see was hard

to watch.  Rory made an obvious unforced error earlier in the week by speaking of winning five points, but he and Sergio played like they belonged in the B-flight instead.

But Rory drops that bomb on No. 17 and, after Rory's errant tee ball catches a bare lie, Sergio hits a towering hybrid onto the green.  The two-putt birdie won a half point that will feel like much more, and a 3 1/2 - 1/2 rout of the afternoon session.

Watson put a brave face on it after the session ended, but he and his lads are in quite the deep hole.  There's still lots of golf to be played, but with Rory, Sergio, Poulter and several other Euro show ponies scraping it around, they can't be happy with their current position.

We're about 30 minutes for seeing the morning fourball pairings, but I don't expect too many surprises.  The Bubba-Webb team was just dreadful, but he needs those guys too much to sit them and He'll like them even less in foursomes.  There's a chance he'll break them up, but my guess is they stay together and Watson will be fingering his rosary.  Reed and Speith will no doubt stay together, and I just heard that Phil will not play in the morning.  Given that he looked like the Michelin Man in his Costanzaeaque puffy parka and winter golf gloves.

The Golf Channel analysts are criticizing Watson for leaving the Reed-Speith team on the bench, but we should wait at least until Monday morning for that nonsense.  The morning went exactly as he drew it up, and he needed to get the vets, whose games logically are better suited to foursomes, out there in the afternoon.  The guys simply did not perform, but there was no cause to change form his planning at 12:30 local time.

McGinley's big decisions will revolve around whether he wants anyone to play five matches.  Logic would seem to point towards making sure not to burn anyone out before Sunday, but no doubt he'll be tempted to ride the Rose-Stenson team hard.

Just a heads up that blogging will be limited for the rest of the event.  There's barely time to play and watch, much less blog, so you may well be on your own.  I'll check in when I can, but tomorrow morning will be big.

The Pairings

By now you've seen them, but for anyone living in a cave in Tora Bora, here they are

Match One: Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, U.S., vs. Justin Rose and Henrik

Stenson, Europe. 

Match Two: Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker, U.S., vs. Thomas Bjorn and Martin Kaymer, Europe. 

Match Three: Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, U.S., vs. Stephen Gallacher and Ian Poulter, Europe. 

Match Four: Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson, U.S., vs. Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia.

I'm more surprised by McGinley's lineup than Watson's.  Let me explain...

Amongst it's other benefits, the home team gets to decide which format to play in the morning and which in the afternoon.  In playing fourball in the morning, a format in which the Euro's have kicked American butt, Tom Terrific had to decide how to handle his rookies.  Conventional wisdom and captaincy logic pulls in two opposite directions:

1. As a visiting team that's a decided underdog, put your best teams out there early to quiet the crowds;
2. If you have rookies, especially rookies not on great form, hide them in fourballs.

Watson obviously decided that No. 2 was the higher priority, hence all three rookies have a morning tee time, with two of them paired.  Watson has left Kooch, Mahan, Zach and Poor Furyk on the bench, all of whom have been here before and all of whom have games suitable for alternate shot (in theory).

McGinley has all his show ponies out there in the a.m., and since he plans to play everyone tomorrow he's obviously using Jamie Donaldson and Victor Dubuisson in foursomes.  

I think I like Watson batting his namesake leadoff, though it's not without risk.  But I can't see the U.S. winning this thing without a big week from Bubba, so c'mon seven.  And in a funny bit I just saw on Twitter, where someone (sorry, but I can't find it now) posed the existential question, "Is Webb Simpson the Bubba-whisperer?"  Guess we're about to find out.

Lastly, can you call yourself a golf fan and not be salivating at that fourth match?  It doesn't get any better than that, though having said that it'll be a 7&6 blowout.

Now, what does a fellow do until 2:30 a.m.?

Grampian Grumblings

Hasn't this week seemed endless?  There's no way to avoid it, except perhaps by spreading the competition over four days as they do at The Presidents Cup, but we're all just filling time for now...

But this may be the silliest piece you'll read this week (or ever) about the Ryder Cup, as John Leicester combines category errors, faulty logic and thuggish jingoism (OK, I made up that last one just because I can).  Here's the premise:

Yet at the Ryder Cup - perhaps only at the Ryder Cup - this potent stew of nationalities, cultures, languages and histories gels fantastically to put real flesh and bones on an idea that otherwise can be a hard sell: that of a united Europe.

Really?  You picture them marching into battle for the greater glory of....Brussels?  Sheesh, let's see how far he takes this:

In Europe, more often than not, it is the other way around: country first, continent second 

- even a distant second or not at all. The whole concept of what it means to be "European" is still a work in progress, hazy, even alien, to many. 

Except, that is, for three days every two years, when European golf fans put nationality aside to rally behind the common cause of beating the Yanks at golf. Thanks, they might say, for helping us defeat Nazi Germany, for everything you did to help build modern Europe, the Marshall plan, staring down the Soviets and whatnot, but now watch our guys sink this birdie. 

Which all makes golf's premier team event politically interesting and, at the same time, also feel somewhat bizarre.

John, if this strikes you as bizarre, perhaps it's because you're trying to link two issues having absolutely nothing in common.  Can you not understand that a Brit or Irishman or Frenchman or Dane has no problem with playing a 3-day team event without that involving ceding national sovereignty to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels.   The more fundamental question is why would you believe they should be linked?

And he just keeps banging this drum, as if sheer repetition produces logic:

Ask around in the crowds and you quickly find people who say they feel little or no love for the European Union but who are decked out in the EU colors of yellow and blue. It's all a bit perplexing.

Repeat after me, it's a golf event that has no significance to or effect on the affairs of state.  I know journalism is in decline, but does the AP have no editors?

Old friend Oliver Brown, he of the "Thuggish Jingoism" comment, still needs to consider mixing in a little decaf into his morning java:

Phil Mickelson has fired the first fusillade of the 40th Ryder Cup with an extraordinary barb at Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, suggesting that their ongoing court case was disrupting European team unity. Asked about the strength of the American team bond, he replied: “Not only do we play together, we also don’t litigate against each other.”

Extraordinary?  Boy Ollie, seems like you don't get out a lot.... is that any more extraordinary than Rory opining that Phil is on the back nine of his career?  Then there's this:

For the past two days the ‘phoney war’ at this Ryder Cup had been relatively calm, but Mickelson’s broadside, depicting McGinley’s Europe as a team divided, is sure to light the fuse.

 Boy Ollie, that's a lot of martial imagery for a continent with no remaining military capabilities, so perhaps we should all remember that it's just a golf event.  If you were actually watching you might have noticed that Phil had a big grin on his face, and this is also the guy who cheered when Justin Rose made that bomb on No. 17 at Medinah.

In other news and notes:

• My vote for funniest line is this from the world No. 1:

Rory McIlroy says he would still be a virgin if it weren't for his golf skills.

 

The World No. 1 joked about his highly-publicized relationships while shooting a television documentary with BBC2, to be shown Thursday in advance of the first round of the 40th Ryder Cup on Friday.

Hmmmm...golf as a way to get laid?  I like that as a Grow-the-Game initiative a heck of a lot more than Foot-golf. 

• Feel-good story of the week is the return of Matt Kuchar's caddie, Lance Bennett.  Actually feel-good isn't quite the right term, but life has to go on and it's good to see him here:

Amid the feverish tribal urgings that will be on show at the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, a thought needs to be spared for a brave American caddie.

Lance Bennett, who carries the bag for Matt Kuchar, has shown up for work just three weeks after receiving the devastating news that his 39-year-old wife, Angela, had died unexpectedly of natural causes, leaving not just a bereft husband but a four-year-old daughter, Emma.

Feverish tribal urgings?   And this from folks that spend the rest of the year covering soccer....

• Separated at Birth?  Alex Myers had this from Ian Poulter:

Ian Poulter has been Europe's team leader in recent Ryder Cups, not just

because of his ridiculous 12-3 record, but because of the passion with which he plays. So who is the Ian Poulter of the American squad?

Poulter was asked that question Thursday, and he instantly responded: "Keegan Bradley."

That's a pretty obvious answer, and is the obvious reason he's on the team.  And that energy can be really important, but only if the putts are dropping...

• Your Mileage May Vary - Ryan Herrington takes a stab at the five who have the most to gain and lose from the Ryder Cup.  There's nothing too objectionable here, but what I find most interesting is that you could reverse the lists just as easily.

• Hits and Misses, Wardrobe Division - Alex Holmes has an amusing little item on Ryder Cup costumes.  It's just from the last decade, so don't expect to see the infamous 1999 Sunday shirts, but still there's fun to be had as per this composite from 2004:

I wasn't aware that Campmor sells tents in those colors.

• Jim McCabe tries to make something out of this tunnel to the first tee:

It's kind of cool, though the something is that each side has ten players depicted, but that one of the Americans, specifically Hale Irwin, has not been a Ryder Cup Captain.  Scandalous, I tell you...

• All The World's a Gallery - Golf.com loves its galleries, and we've two got a couple for you today.  First up is this gallery of thirteen reasons the U.S. will take back the Cup.  Given how uncompelling the logic, I'd have gone with twelve or fourteen, just to be safe.  This will be more to some folks' taste, the Best Ryder Cup WAGS.  Now that's a competitive event...

We're only a half hour away from tomorrow's fourball pairing, so I'll see you all later.

As The World Turns

Like sands through an hourglass, so are the days of our lives....

Pace Neil Sedaka, breaking up is hard to do, but it can no longer be denied that Rory and Graeme are henceforth just friends.  Given their relative dynamics (a word not chosen at random), it was inevitable that Graeme would play the George Costanza role and give us the "It's not him, it's me excuse":

“Rory and I’s golf dynamic has changed significantly from the first time we ever played

together back when perhaps the older brother/kind of younger brother leadership role that maybe I had with him, that’s changed.

“He’s the world’s No. 1 player. He’s a four-times major champion. The dynamic between him and I is changed forever. He would now be the leader of the two of us and perhaps the dynamic doesn’t work as well as it did in the past. Perhaps I’m the kind of guy that needs that leadership role a little bit, who needs to feel like he is on at least on a level with the guy he’s playing with. I’ll be the first to admit it.

Oh, if only one of Paul McGinley's thirteen Vice-Captains was a licensed psychoanalyst he could help Graeme deal with these lingering fears of inadequacy.  Dammit Graeme, you're a good-looking and thoughtful guy, and you'll find a partner that'll make you happy.  Perhaps I could interest you in a Dubuisson or Donaldson ?

But Graeme rambled on, visibly progressing through the denial and negotiating stages of grief:

“At Medinah a couple of years ago, and Rory and I spoke about this, I found the better ball format very difficult with him because he likes to go first, I let him at it, and I kind of come second. You know, he’s standing there beating it 350 down the middle, and I put my tee in the ground thinking there’s not really a lot of point in me hitting this tee shot and find myself throwing myself at it, and literally it kind of didn't help my game much at Medinah playing better-ball with him. Foursomes I think is different. I think we could still play foursomes really well together.”

Graeme, I'm not now nor have I ever been a psychiatrist, but I think you're bitterly clinging to the past, and you're going to need to make a clean break.  And please, no leave-behinds in Rory's apartment.  James Corrigan tries to break it to Graeme gently:

It is understood that the plan at this stage is for Martin Kaymer to play with McIlroy in the Friday afternoon foursomes, although McDowell hopes he gets the chance to play with his countryman on the weekend. "Foursomes is different. I think we could still play foursomes really well together," McDowell said. "I love playing off his tee shot, as anyone would, 350 down the middle. We are both up for it. But like Paul says, he feels like I could be best used somewhere else… and Rory certainly can play with anyone. So we might be best served apart."

Hmmmm...he hasn't quite made it to the acceptance stage, but it's still only Wednesday.  Though if there's foul play, I'm guessing GMac in the library with the candelabra.

Writing in The Independent, Phil Casey reads the tea leaves practice round pairings and gives us this:

McIlroy and McDowell were kept apart for the first official practice session on Tuesday, with McIlroy alongside Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer while McDowell paired with Victor Dubuisson and Henrik Stenson. 

It looks increasingly likely that McDowell will partner Dubuisson in the fourballs, with McIlroy and Garcia another possible combination.

There have been Garcia-McIlroy whispers all week, though The Daily Mail's Derek Lawrenson casts a dissenting note:

Could Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter lead Europe out on the first morning of the Ryder Cup? That would create some noise among the spectators gathered in the wonderful

amphitheatre that has been created around the first tee, wouldn’t it? 

McIlroy and Poulter were the fourballs partnership that changed everything at Medinah, of course, but Europe captain Paul McGinley will be all too aware of the perils associated with such a pairing as well. 

It might be a decade ago but nobody as steeped in Ryder Cup lore as the Irishman will forget what happened when the Americans paired Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in 2004. When they were beaten comfortably it was such a psychological blow it set the tone for a record-breaking defeat.

I suspect that's right, that given the strength of the Euro team and home-field advantage, there's no reason to give the Yanks that big an opportunity that early.  But if Friday were to go badly for the home team, I could see them as the first game out on Saturday for sure.

OK, enough with the matchmaking, what else can we amuse ourselves with?  

Playing Those Mind Games - Are they effing with our guys, or is the home team simply unfamiliar with the complicated spelling of the name "Jimmy"?  As friend of the blog Al Z. could tell you, misspelling Spieth's name is entirely understandable, but Jiimmy?

This Date in Thuggish Jingoism - PGA of America Prez Ted Bishop took the Ice Bucket Challenge 

bait from captain Tom Watson and saw a local barber:

Lee Westwood drew laughs when he said he touched Rickie's scalp. but I'm thinking braille would be the only way to read it on Ted's scalp.

Ted was also in the news for sending a letter to his members last week apologizing for selling the advertising time on the Ryder Cup broadcast.  Seriously.

It seems that Dick's will be a frequent presence and that's offensive to the delicate sensitivities of PGA Members.  here' the text of the letter:

OK, nobody likes to see folks lose their jobs, but it's not like this was a positive experience for Dick's.  They remain the largest retailer in the sport, so I'm thinking your delicate flowers will have to suck it up.  I don't mean to sound harsh, but Dick's is your customer, Ted, so it's kind of bad form to sell them out to your members after, you know, cashing their check.  When you're upset enough to refund their money, then I'll listen.

Shack Attack - Geoff has two valuable contributions this morning, the first being an old note from Frank Hannigan.   We spoke of Frank after his passing, but he's one of those really interesting people that our sport has been blessed with, though on certain subjects (notably 6" rough) he can be quite stubborn.  Today we share his thoughts on Ryder Cup Captains:

1.   I don't happen to believe that the captaincy of the Ryder Cups has anything to do with the outcomes.     Especiallly given the randomness of the pairings. I do believe the outcome matters more to the Europeans overall.     

2.  On the captaincy business,  nobody writes about the commercial value. It's worth a hell of a lot. Varies with the name, of course, but I would guess not getting it was a loss of a million dollars to Larry Nelson. Watson?  I imagine the inevitable attention matters considerably to his sponsors. I think Tony Jacklin was the first captain who understood how it could be parlayed into serious money. 

When Curtis was captain ( & he got an extra year because of 9/11) I think it helped keep his Monday appearance fees up a great deal long after he was a truly competitive golfer. I don't say there is anything wrong with this. It's just consistent with what golf became. 

But it pisses me off that it is treated by what remains of golf media as if what is going on is the equivalent of the USGA picking Francis Ouimet to captain another Walker Cup team 80 years ago. Does anyone think that Lee Westwood or Luke Donald will try less hard if Paul McGinley is picked as distinct from someone who won a "major" ?  It's hard for me to imagine that a Westwood could think of Montgomerie as anything other than someone who had enormous and undeserved skills.

Undeserved?  Would love to follow that thread with Frank, though that ship has unfortunately sailed.

Second, he links to this most excellent Bob Harig item at ESPN.com 

But unlike the grand old layouts for which Scotland is known, the Gleneagles venue is an 

American-style course with lush, perfectly manicured fairways. Instead of pot bunkers and scorched earth, it is a place you might find any given week on the PGA Tour.

Designed by Jack Nicklaus in 1993 and given a makeover by the Golden Bear in anticipation of the Ryder Cup, it serves as an annual stop on the European Tour.

And yet, with all the surrounding traditional and historic Scottish golf courses, they come here?

As Scotland on Sunday columnist John Huggan is proud of saying, the course is the fourth best in the Auchterarder area. (Da-dum. It is a town of four golf courses.)

The reason is as simple as a few symbols on the keypad: $ £ €.

Yes, which is why we're saddled with such dreadful venues, but I did like that Huggan snark.  Like Shack, what's most interesting is the reaction of those that have popped for the big bucks, most notably the owner of Celtic Manor:

And it doesn't hurt that his golf business prospered because of it. According to Matthews' communications director, Paul Williams, golf revenues doubled at Celtic Manor between 2008 and 2011 and have maintained that level. 

"I have to tell you," Matthews said. "It was probably the best investment I ever made."

It astounds me that anyone who saw the 2010 Ryder Cup would be motivated to go there instead of to Royal Porthcawl or Nefyn & District.

And it's not going to change soon, as while I was away Shack had this item on the finalists for hosting the 2022 edition, which include such notable golf destinations as Austria, Denmark and, ugh, Turkey.  And yes, part of Turkey is technically in Europe, but the only relevant issue will be the number of zeros in their bid.