2016 Ryder Cup Saturday Four-Ball: Captain's Fantastic!

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Let the second guessing begin!

As I note for GolfDigest.com, the captain's made some bold calls in the morning that didn't hurt Europe. But the afternoon is another story: Clarke wheeling out Kaymer and Westwood despite little sign Friday that they were playing well, meaning a benching of Sergio's new pal, Rafa Cabrera Bello.

The real shocker came on the USA side as Captain Davis Love sends out the struggling Phil Mickelson with Matt Kuchar over the red-hot Brandt Snedeker. It also means breaking up the Koepka-Snedeker pairing that has delivered two points so far.

The real fun should be with the long-bombing first group featuring all +300 yard drivers in McIlroy, Pieters, Johnson and Koepka.

2016 Ryder Cup Saturday Morning Foursomes This & That

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Both captain's have much on the line Saturday morning after each has made bold (questionable?) lineup decisions. Davis Love has sat Dustin Johnson in favor of the Mickelson-Fowler pairing, a surprise given Mickelson's wayward ball-striking Friday. The U.S. takes a 5-3 lead into the day, one that left Davis Love sounding somewhat pleased, writes Brian Wacker for GolfDigest.com.

Playing Mickelson in foursomes seems to be something planned in advance no matter the state of someone's ball striking. A couple of stories on Phil Mickelson reaffirm his leadership role, to the point that wife Amy is wishing someone else would assert themselves following Phil's Hal Sutton comments earlier this week.  Alan Shipnuck writing at golf.com on Phil:

“He felt awful, and he called Hal so many times he was like an ex-girlfriend,” says Mickelson’s wife, Amy. She has been through endless controversies with her college sweetheart, but the scrutiny ever since the Watson confrontation has been at a fever pitch. “It’s exhausting,” Amy says. “I would love to get off this rollercoaster. As much as I appreciate that Phil has been looking out for the other guys, can’t just one time someone else step up and say what needs to be said?”

Karen Crouse in the New York Times also considered the Mickelson influence.

In one of his daily news conferences this week, Love mentioned Mickelson by name 15 times, and that did not count his response to a direct question about Mickelson. Love said that he had been addressing the United States contingent on Tuesday night when he had noticed that Mickelson was leaning forward in his seat, eager to say something. So Love ceded the floor to him.

“Nobody has seen more team golf on our team than him,” said Love, who described Mickelson as “kind of the backbone of the team.”

As I note for GolfDigest.com, Darren Clarke's lineup offers an even bigger roll of the dice in breaking up Rose-Stenson to get two rookies into the action (Chris Wood and Matthew Fitzpatrick). John Huggan writes that Clarke was breathing easier after a successful Friday afternoon got Europe back in the matches. Still...

Clarke has a leaderingship/veteran issue as well: to play Lee Westwood, who is struggling and took himself off the lineup card Friday afternoon. Christopher Clarey of the New York Times profiled their longtime friendship for the New York Times, which could be tested this afternoon if Europe needs to keep their stalwart Ryder Cupper on the bench.

Danny Willett played Friday afternoon and heard it from the fans. Big time. Randall Mell writes

Rory McIlroy's walk-off eagle and reaction was the standout moment from Day 1 at Hazeltine. Alex Myers with the details and video.

Kevin Van Falkenburg at ESPN.com makes a strong case that the heckling is only helping Rory.

American fans needled him, yelling for his ball to "get in the water" every time he took on a hazard, and he responded with fist pumps and icy glares toward the gallery that would have made Seve Ballesteros giddy.

American fans needled him, yelling for his ball to "get in the water" every time he took on a hazard, and he responded with fist pumps and icy glares toward the gallery that would have made Seve Ballesteros giddy.

Rory also said he would apologize to caddie Austin Johnson for a perceived slight following the completion of his four-ball win with Thomas Pieters. (Dave Shedloski with more on Pieters and his great Friday play here.) 

 


 

The oversight...

 

 

 

2016 Ryder Cup Four-ball Day One This And That

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I've just returned from some of the early four-ball play between the great Tom Watson vision known as Reed-Spieth and they will be in an epic fight with Rose-Stenson. The weather is beautiful, the crowds huge (though shockingly tough on the Europeans) and the pairings decent enough. Only Europe's Matt Fitzpatrick and Chris Wood didn't get on the course today.

Here they are with a few comments, including a note about Westwood and Mickelson likely taking themselves out of afternoon play based on the morning (despite what the captains say). Mickelson told Golf Channel that it would have been a cop out had he not played Friday morning.

12:30 p.m.: Jordan Spieth/Patrick Reed (USA) vs. Justin Rose/Henrik Stenson (Europe)

12:45 p.m.: J.B. Holmes/Ryan Moore (USA) vs. Sergio Garcia/Rafa Cabrera-Bello (Europe)

1:00 p.m.: Brandt Snedeker/Brooks Koepka (USA) vs. Martin Kaymer/Danny Willett (Europe)

1:15 p.m.: Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar (USA) vs. Rory McIlroy/Thomas Pieters (Europe)

Fowler earns his first Ryder Cup point, with Mickelson assist, sort of. Alex Myers reports.

Jim McCabe on the dominating foursomes win by Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson.

Myers with some of the best things said by fans at the first tee.

The Palmer bag from 1975 on the first tee. What a cool touch.

 

 

Sergio getting cocky after making a putt.

 


The Arnold Palmer tribute video from yesterday's opening ceremony.

 

2016 Ryder Cup Morning Foursomes This And That

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The bickering and bloat is a thing of the past. Let's play some golf!

The first morning foursomes pairings still have folks scratching their heads, particularly the Mickelson/Fowler group. The force better be with the Task Force, writes Ryan Lavner.

Hecklers may be comforted that one of their own enjoyed an epic moment Thursday. Danny Willett won't have to worry either way, he's on the bench Thursday morning. John Huggan with his story heading into day one.

Jaime Diaz has your Ryder Cup facts and figures, plus TV times.

You can follow scoring here.

2016 Ryder Cup Opening Session Oddities Galore

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Well, four to be exact, according to Alex Myers.

I totally concur with all four of the key questions he has about Davis Love and Darren Clarke's opening session pairings in the 2016 Ryder Cup.

After the ceremony and out at dinner, most werein consensus that the Mickelson foursome's pairing with Rickie Fowler was strange, but that he ommission of Ryan Moore was even more bizarre.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow: Palmer's Ashes At Latrobe

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Gerry Dulac with an image of this ceremonial flight over Latrobe Country Club for Arnold Palmer. A small family-only service was held. Dave Shedloski reports.

 

 

Dulac says the location of his ashes became known too...


And after the funeral, this stunning rainbow appeared...

 

 

 

Phil Apologizes To Hal Over Ballgate, Hopes Hal Feels Welcome

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According to a fresh report from G.C. Digital, Phil Mickelson has told Golf Channel and Golf World reporter Tim Rosaforte that he was in the wrong by singling out decisions made during Hal Sutton's captaincy.

Mickelson acknowledged that the comments came off wrong.

“I’ve communicated with him,” Mickelson told Rosaforte. “I feel awful. It was never meant to be like that. I was trying to use an example of how a captain can have a strong effect. Unfortunately, it came across the way it did.”

Sutton and other past captains have been invited to hang out in the team room and at Hazeltine as a display of unity.

“I was totally in the wrong,” Mickelson said. “I never should have brought that up. I used an extreme example the way decisions can affect play, and I never should have done that because it affected Hal.”

Rosaforte's report on Live From, where he also explains that Mickelson hopes Sutton will still feel welcome to visit the team room, where past captain's have been encouraged to hang out in hopes of creating an "inclusive family feel."

Sutton reportedly left town but is scheduled to appear in a captain's exhibition match with Ben Crenshaw at midday.

The full Rosaforte report:

Randall Mell looked at the episode before Mickelson's apology and explained the whole mess very well. This explanation from Captain Davis Love doesn't add up though, as Mickelson was the one who raised the 2004 matter, not the press.

American captain Davis Love III was asked in his news conference Wednesday if Mickelson’s calling out Sutton again was appropriate. Love indicated Mickelson is in some ways playing defense.

“Unfortunately, some analysts just keep bringing it up over and over and over again, things that have happened in the past,” Love said. “Sometimes, you have to set the record straight.”

If you have the time, Dave Anderson's New York Times account of the 2004 ball episode is worth a read. Perhaps some of the lingering bitterness stems from Sutton making Mickelson adapt to Tiger's equipment...

Should Mickelson be teamed with Woods in the afternoon alternate-shot match today and perhaps again tomorrow, he will be using a rare mixture: Callaway woods, Titleist irons and putter, and a Nike ball. But why Tiger's ball?

"I personally felt that it would be very difficult to tell a guy that was 257 times or whatever the leading player in the world," Sutton said, alluding to Woods. "And you're going to ask him to switch balls. I didn't want to put Tiger in that position, so I just said, 'You need to know how to hit this ball right here."'

ShackHouse 21: The Ryder Cup, Bill Simmons, And Dave Shedloski On Arnold Palmer's Passing

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An incredible time in golf and hopefully we did it justice on this week's ShackHouse.

The Ryder Cup is our primary focus, with Bill Simmons (@billsimmons) joining to express grave concerns for Tiger Woods not even being worthy of a selection. We try to reassure him.

Also joining us to discuss the passing of Arnold Palmer is Golf World and Golf Digest contributor Dave Shedloski (@golfershed) who has been assisting Mr. Palmer on a book of stories and memories--A Life Well Played--that St. Martin's Press has expedited for an October 11th publication date.

All proceed's go to the Arnie's Army.

As always, you can subscribe on iTunes and or just refresh your device subscription page.

Same deal with Soundcloud for the show, and Episode 21 is here to listen to right now!

The ShackHouse Stitcher page.

The Ringer's ShackHouse page with all of the info and links you can dream of.

ShackHouse is presented by Callaway Golf, who are offering listeners free shipping on ANY ORDER through callawaygolf.com using the Promo code HOUSE.

HOUSE!

Go to CallawayGolf.com and enjoy that free shipping.

Free shipping!

Also, here is the link to the Danny Lee/Vice online series mentioned in episode 21.

We also want to thank Athletes Collective, which makes a great longsleeve for the fall, plus a sensational new V-neck for working out. They are making solid, comfortable, logo-free and incredibly low-priced athletic wear out of the latest tech fabrics. Use promo code House for 15% off your first order. Now!

Check out this week’s Blue Apron menu and get your first THREE meals FREE—WITH FREE SHIPPING—by going to blueapron.com/shackhouse.  It's a better way to cook. Really!

Three free meals!

Thanks for your continued support of the show and our advertisers. Ad be sure to check out the website of our hosts, The Ringer.

Hal Sutton: "I think Phil better get his mind on what he needs to have it on this week, instead of on something that happened ten years ago."

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The past Ryder Cup Captain's played an exhibition off-site today and Alex Miceli of Golfweek captured this video of some of Hal Sutton's remarks (embed below).

Sutton, the 2004 captain at Oakland Hills, had plenty more to say about Phil Mickelson and his assertion that he was not given enough time.

Dave Shedloski reports for GolfDigest.com on Sutton's response.

His key point: Mickelson changed equipment the week prior, yet feels he got sidetracked testing Tiger's ball for the foursomes pairing, one that Sutton explains in the video that he intended as a goodwill gesture.

Sutton, who was one of several former captains to visit the U.S. team room on Tuesday night, went on to stipulate that Mickelson omitted a crucial fact in his recollection of his pairing with Woods: Lefty had changed to Callaway equipment just prior to the 2004 matches. “Yeah and then he didn't even call me and tell me he was changing the equipment,” Sutton said. “He had [his agent] Steve Loy call me and tell me. And he changed not only equipment, he changed ball too. So, print that. Print that. Print that. He let his whole team down. So he's talking about Hal Sutton? He let his whole team down.”

There were many other quotes from the chat, including Sutton's admission that he esentially quit the game after the Ryder Cup heat he took.

Pretty much quit golf, took the blame for everything. Nobody played well that week. If I need to still shoulder the blame for Phil’s play, then I’ll do that.

The video:

Danny Willett Apologizes For Brother's Column, Does Not Believe American Fans Are A Baying Mob Of Imbeciles

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Speaking to Golf Channel's Steve Burkowski, Danny Willett certainly sounds contrite and upset in apologizing for his brother's column mocking the American Ryder Cup fan.

Willett says they are not the thoughts of his teammates and that he phoned his brother to discuss.

Captain Darren Clarke addressed the matter, writes Alistair Tait for Golfweek.com.

The look of anger on Clarke’s face told the whole story. This was the last thing he needed as he sets out to try to win the Ryder Cup for Europe for a fourth consecutive time.

“I was made aware of the article about an hour ago,” Clarke said. “I showed it to Danny and he’s bitterly disappointed in his brother’s article. It’s not what Danny thinks. It’s not what I think. It’s not what Team Europe stands for.

For his part, PJ Willett is suggesting the piece was satirical.

Phil Talks Importance Of Ball Testing, Captain's Who Put Players In A Position To Fail

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Phil Mickelson held court in the 2016 Ryder Cup media center, revealed that he and Tiger have been talking multiple times and day, and cleared the air on a captain's role.

Before the long answer, this about the inclusive nature of Captain Love's coaching style may be noteworthy if it continues to feel like no opinion goes unnoticed, discussed and appreciated.

This is a year where we feel as though Captain Love has been putting us in a position to succeed. He's taken input from all parties. He's making decisions that have allowed us to prepare our best and play our best, and I believe that we will play our best.

Now we are playing a very strong European Team and I don't know what that means results-wise, but our best golf will come out this week and that's our goal.

And there is the main show...

Q. You've played for ten of them. How much difference can or does a captain make?

PHIL MICKELSON: Unbelievable. It all starts with the captain. I mean, that's the guy that has to bring together 12 strong individuals and bring out their best and allow them on a platform to play their best. That's the whole foundation of the team. You're saying -- I understand and I hear -- well, guys just need to play better or they just need to putt better. Absolutely you do.

But you play how you prepare. And in major championships, when we win or play well in majors, it's because we prepared properly for those events. And that allowed to us bring out our best golf. And in a Ryder Cup, you have to prepare properly for the event.

Now, I see these looks, like what are you talking about. Let me give you an example, if I may (laughter).

JOHN DEVER: You may.

PHIL MICKELSON: Twelve years ago, okay, in 2004, Tiger and I were paired together and we ended up not playing well. And was that really the -- was that the problem? I mean, maybe. But we were told two days before that we were playing together. And that gave us no time to work together and prepare.

He found out the year before when we played at The Presidents Cup in 2003 that the golf ball I was playing was not going to work for him. He plays a very high-spin ball and I play a very low-spin ball, and we had to come up in two days with a solution.

Deflate them?

So I grabbed a couple dozen of his balls, I went off to the side, and tried to learn his golf ball in a four- or five-hour session on kind of an isolated -- one of the other holes out there trying to find out how far the ball goes. And it forced me to stop my preparation for the tournament, to stop chipping and stop putting and stop sharpening my game and stop learning the golf course, in an effort to crash-course and learn a whole different golf ball that we were going to be playing.

And in the history of my career, I have never ball-tested two days prior to a major. I've never done it. It doesn't allow me to play my best. What allows me to play my best is to learn the course, sharpen my touch on the greens, sharpen my chipping out of the rough and ball striking and so forth.

Instead, I'm taking four or five hours and I'm out trying to learn another ball to allow us to play our best. Had we known a month in advance, we might have been able to make it work. I think we probably would have made it work. But we didn't know until two days prior.

Now, I loved -- I'm not trying to throw -- to knock anybody here, because I actually loved how decisive Captain Sutton was. I feel like that's a sign of great leadership to be decisive. Had we had time to prepare, I think we would have made it work and could have had some success.

Decisively bad!

But that's an example of starting with the captain, that put us in a position to fail and we failed monumentally, absolutely. But to say, well, you just need to play better; that is so misinformed because you will play how you prepare.

Manspat Alert: Brandel Chamblee & David Duval Go Extra Holes Over Leadership

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A lively, 24-hole Live From match broke out between Brandel Chamblee and David Duval over leadership.

The debate got a bit touchy at this point:

Duval: "Well having actually been out there and done it, there's more to it than just what the stats say."

Chamblee: "You think that actually having to be out there to do it, determines whether or not you can pass judgement on it or not? I wasn't at the Boston Tea Party but I can tell you all about it."

Duval: "OK, well I know you're never wrong. I understand that."

The clear plastic sheeting adds a nice Dexteresque feel to the scene...

Note To Ryder Cup Fans Watching Danny Willett: His Brother Thinks You Are "Pudgy, basement-dwelling, irritants"

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For reasons entirely clear, Masters champion Danny Willett's brother Peter wittingly takes on the Team USA vice captains and selfish types.

For reasons not entirely clear and let's be honest, not necessary, Peter Willett takes on the fans in this National Golfer piece.

For the Americans to stand a chance of winning, they need their baying mob of imbeciles to caress their egos every step of the way. Like one of those brainless bastards from your childhood, the one that pulled down your shorts during the school’s Christmas assembly (f**k you, Paul Jennings), they only have the courage to keg you if they’re backed up by a giggling group of reprobates. Team Europe needs to shut those groupies up.

They need to silence the pudgy, basement-dwelling, irritants, stuffed on cookie dough and pissy beer, pausing between mouthfuls of hotdog so they can scream ‘Baba booey’ until their jelly faces turn red.

They need to stun the angry, unwashed, Make America Great Again swarm, desperately gripping their concealed-carry compensators and belting out a mini-erection inducing ‘mashed potato,’ hoping to impress their cousin.

They need to smash the obnoxious dads, with their shiny teeth, Lego man hair, medicated ex-wives, and resentful children. Squeezed into their cargo shorts and boating shoes, they’ll bellow ‘get in the hole’ whilst high-fiving all the other members of the Dentists’ Big Game Hunt Society.

Good luck this week Danny! Enjoy your stay in Chaska!