At This Rate, Davis Love May Need A Bigger Bulletin Board For The Ryder Cup Team Room

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Last bit of fun from the Golf Channel/NBC conference call to hype the Ryder Cup, were these comments related to captains and their decisions.

First, before the fun related to the U.S. team, David Feherty about the importance of the Ryder Cup to Euros and reminding us who Captain Faldo did not pick in 2008 and perhaps, why Captain Faldo did not make the pick.

DAVID FEHERTY:  They tend to put a lot more weight on a player's Ryder Cup for the record.  For instance, Colin Montgomerie is the greatest Ryder Cup player of all time.  Something really put the tilt in his kilt; you know, every time he put his Ryder Cup spikes on, he turned into just virtually an unbeatable player.  If Nick Faldo had picked him, you know, for his team, he probably would have gone past Nick Faldo's record of the most points ever won in Ryder Cup.

And Brandel Chamblee, talking about American captains and their lack of consistency which does make sense.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE:  I think that in general, the captains for the U.S. side make mistakes.  They consistently switch up the pairings and the players.

For example, Tiger Woods played with three different partners in 2002.  I believe Jim Furyk played with three different partners in 2002, as well, and consistently the U.S. Team does that.  Whereas The Ryder Cup captains tend to find teams, and whether they have success early or they have failures early, they pretty much stick with those teams throughout The Ryder Cup, and it's worked for them.

And us switching, hasn't worked for us.  Paul Azinger I think gave the captaincy its proper due by studying the techniques of The Ryder Cup captains from Europe and employing those.  He played Mickelson with only two partners, Kim, until Mahan on Saturday.  He played Furyk with Perry.  He played Mahan with Leonard.  And I think that ‑‑ well, it obviously worked for him.
   
I think that that's the larger part of the problem, and it's not just a four‑ball that we are getting trapped in.  We also get trapped in the foursomes.  But we get trapped worse in the four‑ball.  I thought it was interesting that Paul Azinger made the decision to not open up with four‑balls for the first time since, I believe, going back to the 80s on U.S. soil.
   
So Davis Love has followed suit.  He's opening up with foursomes.  I think the U.S. side is getting let down by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, certainly Jim Furyk.  Tiger Woods, I think it's for a different reason.  I think he just intimidates everybody that he plays with.
   
And I think he'll be different this time and I think Phil Mickelson will be different this time.  But I still wouldn't pair Phil Mickelson in the foursomes; I certainly would not pair him in the foursomes the first day because it hurts the morale.  And I would be very careful about pairing Jim Furyk and who I paired him with.

I think an assistant captain better plan on heading to Staples to pick up some pins and cork boards. We're still two weeks away and already we've got a nice stockpile of potential motivation material for the apparently hapless American squad.

Feherty On Medinah: Not Great, But Not Belfry Bad

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And the hits keep coming from Wednesday's Golf Channel/NBC conference call, David Feherty:

DAVID FEHERTY:  You know, we have covered PGA Championships there, and Medinah is a long slog of a golf course, between some enormous trees, and has a couple of very similar par 3s over the water.  It's going to favor, I would say, you know, the longer hitters, that's for sure.  And you know, it's got a great finish.  We remember Sergio, I think in '99, 16, chopping it out from behind the trees on the right.  Then a couple of springbok leaps up there and then the par 3, the stare back at Tiger; a great finishing hole.

You know, it's a good golf course.  I don't think personally, you know, that it's great, but if you look at the venues that the Ryder Cup has had, at The Belfry, for instance, which was a horrible golf course to start off with, improved very slightly; it was never a great golf course, but it was a tremendous venue.  I think the crowds in Chicago will turn that golf course into something special.

Brandel: Since The Miceli Run-In, Tiger Has Become More Amiable, Even Pairable

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From yesterday's Golf Channel/Ryder Cup conference call, Brandel Chamblee talking about the kinder, gentler Tiger Woods we've seen in the second half of 2012 and how Tiger might even make a semi-decent Ryder Cup partner for someone.

Brandel on Tiger for the team room bulletin board:

And also from the perspective that I think he's become more amiable.  I think he has a different perspective now.  He's looking around, to Johnny's point and saying, what is my legacy going to be, and am I going to have relationships with these people later in life.

It's been interesting.  It's been fun to watch Tiger Woods in his post‑round remarks, maybe since the Honda when he had that little tiff with Alex Miceli.  But since then, he's been a different guy, and I think the players recognize that.

I think that's going to help him in his Ryder Cup experience, because he's going to be more of the leader that Seve was that took lesser players like Manuel Piñero and made them getter; Gilford, made him better; José, made him better.

Tiger's never done that before in a Ryder Cup.  You've [got] to make rookies better in a Ryder Cup situation.

DVR Alert: The Ryder Cup The Euros Are Still Really, Really Bitter About!

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Golf Channel, Tuesday night. The shirts, the celebration that still irks them and the "I've got a feeling" Ryder Cup.

1999 Ryder Cup – Final Day
Airtime: Tuesday, 8:30-11:30 p.m. ET

Golf Channel looks back at the thrilling final day of the 1999 Ryder Cup from Brookline, Mass., when Team U.S.A. embarked on the largest come-from-behind victory in Ryder Cup history to retain the Ryder Cup.

Just In Case: Euro's Importing 400 Rainsuits!?

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Anticipating either colossal storms or a vast shortage of GORE-TEX in the state of Illinois, European Ryder Cup supplier ProQuip will have 400 rainsuits shipped to Chicago, reports Bernie McGuire. Apparently they heard about that AmEx bill the PGA of America racked up at Celtic Manor buying suits last time out.

To kit out the 12 players in Olazábal’s team, plus caddies, ProQuip has supplied 90 pairs of waterproof trousers, 60 full-zip jackets and 60 half-zip playing tops.

ProQuip will only reveal the slim-fit garments feature an exclusively developed, highly technical, lightweight fabric that is super-quiet and supremely soft, enabling the players to perform their best in all weathers.

Olazábal and his four vice-captains also receive rain suits, as well as backroom staff, the six boys and six girls that make up the Junior European Ryder Cup Team, plus board members and Official Partners of Ryder Cup Europe.

Gee, and I thought the PGA of America was shameless when it came to having too many hanger-on types!