Bishop's Gambit

You didn't think we were done with this story, did you?  It's comedy gold, I tell you...

I'm sure that the reader, like your humble correspondent, had trouble sleeping last night at the news that PGA of America Prez Ted Bishop ducked Alan Shipnuck in the aftermath of that rather incendiary press conference.  While Shipnuck may still be persona non-grata, Bishop did spend some time with Rex Hoggard and Mark Lamport-Stokes.  Here's Rex's lede:

Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, Ted Bishop gathered with a group of

PGA of America executives to talk about the 2016 Ryder Cup. 

Less than 24 hours after the U.S. team’s eighth defeat in its last 10 tries at the biennial matches, Bishop knows there will be more discussions in the coming weeks, but following the 16 1/2 to 11 1/2 rout at Gleneagles the captivity of the transatlantic chartered flight seemed as good a time as any to start looking for answers. 

“We had philosophical conversations on the plane home yesterday, ‘Where do we go next?’” said Bishop, the PGA of America’s president who was back at work at his Legends Golf Club in Indiana on Tuesday morning. “We understand what we have to do and we are not on a serious timeline. We are going to take some time and figure out the best way going forward.”

 I might have suggested that they instead get really drunk, but give them credit for effort.  So, where do we go?  First, they seem to be rewriting the qualifications for the captaincy:

“That decision will be made by someone other than me, but at this point the slate is

totally clear. Why wouldn’t you consider him?” Bishop said. “A Ryder Cup captain doesn’t have to be a major champion. We have to get over that. We have to look for guys who are not afraid to roll their sleeves up and take a blue collar approach like McGinley did and Azinger did.” 

Before Bishop went back to work on Tuesday afternoon, he offered one final thought that seemed apropos considering the criticism Watson and the PGA has received in the aftermath of last week’s blowout. 

“I think the PGA of America is willing to change from a certain stand point,” he said. “We are willing to try to put all the appropriate pieces into place to collectively make a good decision going forward.”

Translation:  We're willing to do anything it takes, just as soon as we figure out what that might be.  This from that second piece lends a little credence to Phil's belief in his comments:

"You know what, that was no surprise to me because I had a very similar conversation

with Phil when we played together in the pro-am at the Scottish Open back in July at Royal Aberdeen. 

"I had asked Phil a question about his perception of the Ryder Cup and he gave me the same answer that he gave on Sunday night, so it's clear to me that he feels very strongly about that." 

Bishop, whose PGA of America organization represents more than 27,000 golf professionals, felt Mickelson's biggest mistake was not to speak out earlier, and in private with Watson.

"It would have been nice if he had maybe conveyed those feelings to Tom before the Ryder Cup rather than after the Ryder Cup," said Bishop. "And I wish he wouldn't have done it in that venue on Sunday night, but it is what it is.

Phil's tone-deafness remains the story, as per Bishop's last 'graph.  It was little more than a calm temper tantrum, and he deserves to be called out for it.  When you lose and especially when you lose badly, the only thing the world wants to hear from you is your acknowledgement of same.

Phil's premise that his teammates and he need a high level of coddling by a captain is to me what lawyers call an admission against interest, and should be the case for not putting him on these teams in the future.  

You might also be interested in this Tim Rosaforte segment on Morning Drive on the subject.  I had been wondering about the mood on the plane heading home, but it turns out that Phil had other travel plans, which is just as well.  Rosy makes the case that Phil needed that platform to get his points across, but while Tim and I go way back (at least to a rental car counter before the 2010 Cup) I'll beg to differ.  If you're in doubt that that was exactly the wrong moment to address the issue, a quick scan of the Fleet Street papers will disabuse you of that.

And one last little giggle from Hoggrad's report about our new savior:

Before that, Bishop said he spoke with many former captains, including Davis Love III, Corey Pavin and Lanny Wadkins. He even reached out to Paul Azinger, the last winning American captain in 2008, but “never heard back from him.”

OK, I'm willing to recognize Azinger as our rightful Lord and Master just as soon as he starts returning phone calls.

So, what's going on in Euroland?  Well, it turns out that McGinley was ahead of Watson all year, per Doug Ferguson:

Graeme McDowell and Victor Dubuisson playing together in the French Open was no

accident. 

McGinley wanted them for foursomes at Gleneagles, and they wound up winning both their matches. 

"I was able to get Victor and Graeme on the same page," he said. "I controlled the draws on the European Tour during the summer, and every time Graeme came to play in Europe, he played with Victor. They didn't know what I was planning, but I had planned that they would be partners."

The most interesting part of this story is that until McDowell won that French Open he was pretty far back in the points race, but obviously McGinley wanted him.  Ferguson notes that McDowell received assurances at a later time:

McDowell was the last European to qualify, though McGinley had told McDowell after the PGA Championship he would be on the team one way or another.

And if you remember Lee Westwood's comments after the Barclays, it seems that he received the same assurances.  Nothing wrong with this and they're to be applauded for their effort, though I also

don't think it's all that important.

Wondering who the next Euro captain might be?  I've been laughing all week at the reverence shown for the European captain selection "template," when in fact their process is subject to as much dysfunction and backstabbing as any... but perhaps some explanation is in order.

For those unfamiliar, I'll refer you to this Shackelford post from before the start of the competition.  In a nutshell, Both Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie contested McGinley's appointment.  Monty doing so was unseemly because he had already had his turn in 2010.  Clarke putting himself up was not a problem (though did you catch his NBC appearance in which he said he's love to do it but under their system they have to be asked?), though swinging his support to Monty, whom he is known to dislike, was quite the obvious dis to McGinley.  

Brian Keough has this:

Paul McGinley insists he won’t let his ice-cool relationship with Darren Clarke harden his heart and cloud his judgement when he sits down to help pick the 2016 Ryder Cup captain. 

Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell want fellow Ulsterman Clarke — the odds on favourite with the bookies — to lead the side at Hazeltine in Minnesota in 2016.

And while we're in awe of their system, they're changing that system to avoid further controversy:

The new captain will almost certainly be named next January under a new system designed to avoid the politics that marred the 2014 captaincy race. 

Instead of a vote among the member of the Players Committee, the new captain will be chosen by the three immediate past captains, a nominee of the Committee (Bjorn could still run and as chairman, he'd have to step aside and allow another committee man to vote) and the Chief Executive, George O'Grady.

And not a single mention of pods.  Go figure... 

Yanno, it's all pretty funny from where I sit.  For years we've lost Ryder Cups with superior teams, with no existential debates about our "process" or "template."  This time we lost to a demonstrably superior European team, and we're gnashing teeth and rending garments.  Why?  Does anyone out there think our twelve were as good as their twelve?