Shark, Jumped

I couldn't bring myself to watch yesterday's Ryder Cup press conference....Forgive me, but with no snow in the Wasatch Range, I feel I've suffered quite enough.  Shockingly, Davis Love III was really chosen as captain...I know, there goes any hope that it was a bad dream.  We'll let Dave Shedloski set the table:

Europe has won eight of the last 10, prompting the PGA of America to form a task force

in which PGA officials joined with former Ryder Cup players and captains. The 11-member task force, which included Love, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, eventually settled on Love as the perfect choice to oversee sweeping changes to how the U.S. will approach the Ryder Cup in 2016 at Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minn. - and beyond. 

“In my 20 years I've had 10 captains that have brought 10 totally different viewpoints,” said Mickelson, who holds the record for most Ryder Cup appearances. “Some have been great, some haven’t, but they have been random from year to year. As a player that’s very difficult to decipher those leadership styles. We have got to have continuity.

I'm getting a little whiplash here, as first it was about redemption, then pods and now continuity... So, how does the New/old Cap'n. think about this:

“It's a new business model, a new team building model that comes from being given an opportunity by the PGA of America to come together and use all of our veteran experience to build a new team culture and consistent plan for the future,” Love added. “So 2016 will be a collaborative effort of many individuals from the task force, past Ryder Cup Captains, veteran players of the Ryder Cup to create the best environment for our team to be totally prepared to compete at Hazeltine National.”

All that veteran experience would be of the losing kind, of course.  But I'm glad to see that Davis has had enough time to earn an MBA in the intervening years since 2012.  And it's hard to see what could go wrong with this:

Interestingly, Mickelson, 45, and Woods, 39, both former PGA champions and near locks to be Ryder Cup captains eventually, will be at Hazeltine even if they do not qualify for the team. They join Love and PGA officers Pete Bevacqua, Derek Sprague and Paul Levy on a Ryder Cup committee that is an outcrop of the Ryder Cup task force.

Because you never know when you'll need a camel...Shack, who has long referred to Asst, Captains as cart-drivers, had this little quip:

It was another a fine day for the Golf Cart Industrial Complex, as the task force has decided lock in four vice captain’s. Tom Lehman goes into 2016 as one of the four. Nothing screams excitement like two losing captains to turn this ship around!

Now, sports fans, where would we set the odds of Eldrick being at Hazeltine if he's not on the team?  I'm guessing that Lindsay will have a race or his kids will have the week off from school, and I actually can't blame him too much.  

Our Phil can't help but gush over that which he has wrought:

"We wanted somebody that is well-liked and respected who does not have such a strong

ego to where he won't listen to a number of different viewpoints," Mickelson said. "But also, he's going to be under a lot of scrutiny so somebody that is confident enough to take on the scrutiny that comes about in 2016. 

"When you look at how unselfish he is, when you look at how much he's willing to take the hits but give other people the credit. And you look at laying a blueprint for the next 20 years and building the foundation for the future Ryder Cups and the continuity from year to year, passing on that knowledge, sharing that knowledge of being involved in the next Ryder Cup and the Cup after that, there's nobody who is as unselfish, there's nobody who can take the hits, who can pass the credit who has past experience to work off of. If those are all the things you want, there's only one guy that fits that bill."

Oh, you mean someone you can push around?  OK, now there are some actual changes above and beyond the MBA-speak, including what will forever be known as the Horschel rule:

Eight of the 12 members of the team will be named on points earned following the conclusion of The Barclays, which is two weeks later than in the past. A new timetable for the captain's picks was announced, too. Three of the four picks will be announced after the conclusion of the BMW Championship, affording an extra two weeks for the decisions. And the final captain's pick will be made at the conclusion of the Tour Championship the following week.

Because I'm a professional blogger I can explain that last bit, as it allows for not one but two painfully awkward broadcasts from the SNL studio announcing captain's picks.  Win-win, baby!

Snark aside, it's always made sense to push back the selection process, and no one has ever understood why Tom Watson wanted to surrender a Captain's pick.  But it's not quite the gimme you assume, because while the aforementioned Horschel was seemingly the hottest gun the west after winning the last two events, I'm guessing he was also quite worn out.

I did get an unseemly chuckle out of this from Rex Hoggard:

Lost in that structure, however, are the fall events in the PGA Tour’s wrap-around schedule. Money earned in events like the McGladrey Classic, which is hosted by Love, will not count toward the Ryder Cup selection system.

Commissioner Wraparound could not be reached for comment.   Shack is declaring victory as he explains:

I've entered full Ryder Cup burnout mode, so under doctor's orders, my reading to Task Force's self-congratulatory press conference announcing Davis Love as 2016 Ryder Cup captain. 

There is good news in this drama. The Task Force is done. Gone! No mas. It's tied with the PGA of America Hack Golf Task Force for most Task Force meetings in organization history (2). 

No more conference calls, no more pretending to care, no more taking Tiger and Phil away from their short game practice and no more wondering if Team USA should go back to four picks (they did!).

Errr...not so much Geoff, as the full Task Force seems to have been replaced by that smaller committee noted above, a marked improvement in that there's fewer members that Bevaqua needs to steamroll.

Interestingly (OK, I'm playing a little loose with that term), despite all the MBA-speak about business models and continuity, there's a notable absence of names associated with said concepts.  There's supposed to be four Vice-Captains, but Lehman was the only name I saw in all the press.  I'll concede Stricker who's a mortal lock for Whistling Straits in 2020.  But all America is desperate to know who the sacrificial lamb is for 2018 in France.