Second-Guessing in Full Swing after USA Loses another Cup

By: Jay Flemma


It's one thing to lose when you're expected to get beat. It's another thing altogether to go out with a whimper instead of a bang.

So it was that the 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup team closed the 40th Ryder Cup with a flaccid performance in the singles, absorbing a 16½ to 11½ loss to Europe. It was the U.S.'s third consecutive defeat and eighth in the last 10 Ryder Cups. The teams will meet again in two years at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

History will be the cruelest to American captain Tom Watson, even though he didn't hit a single golf shot. His captain's picks went a dismal 2-5-2, turning too many journalists into that most limp-wristed of superheroes - Captain Hindsight! Hero of the Maudlin Age!

"He should have picked Horschel! He should have picked Kirk! The way we do our captain's Picks is broken," they wailed plaintively.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda. Those guys wouldn't have even been in the conversation if Tiger Woods and Jason Dufner weren't injured and Dustin Johnson wasn't fighting drug issues. You had two clear-cut stallions in Duf and DJ - experienced, fearless and deeply talented - unable to be chosen. You also had Woods so hobbled he can't hit a golf ball straight. That was the pre-tournament hole dug for us, not the picking up the pieces of what was left.

Now is there some criticism that can fairly be leveled at Watson? Yes, when it comes to his pairings. It's shocking to believe that the same man who captained the last U.S. victory on European soil (1993 at the Belfry) could make such a combination of amateurish gaffes:

• He sat the bedrock-foundation team of Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson for all of Saturday, an appalling idea that backfired completely; Phil was good enough to beat Stephen Gallacher in singles but wasn't sharp, and Keegan got a root canal from Welshman Jamie Donaldson, surrendering the Cup-clinching point in the process.

• He sat poor Webb Simpson for three consecutive matches, leaving him cold as ice with the putter. Webb missed two tap-ins . . . tap-ins! . . . against Ian Poulter, yet still ground out a half-point.

• He sat Speith and Reed Friday afternoon when they had just steamrolled to victory. I understand the thinking: go with the experience in a tough format like alternate shot. But again it backfired as the U.S. gave up three and a half points in that session, which leads us directly to . . .

• His pairings got trounced 7-1 in the foursomes' format for the weekend. If we, instead, had split those sessions evenly, we would have won the Cup.

• There was never a single session where you looked down the slate of pairings as a whole and said to yourself that the Americans had a clear advantage. At times, in fact, it looked quite the opposite. More than once you wondered if Paul McGinley was peeking over Watson's shoulder or whether Watson was just too predictable.

Mickelson comments Sunday night about bringing back Paul Azinger may not be as wrong as the media are making out. Maybe it is time for a painstaking re-appraisal. We've lost the last three Cups in a row, this last by the worst margin in a decade.

Moreover, Phil is right - Azinger's pod system worked. I never imagined Tom Watson was a liability, but there it is on the score sheet. He insisted on ignoring a formula that works - instead of having to cater to 12 individual players, you only have to cater to three groups of four. What's one of the great secrets of success? Delegate, delegate, delegate. Faldo didn't want to do it in '08, and now Watson has become the American side of that coin in rejoinder.

Even mild-mannered and politically careful Bob Harig of ESPN saw fit to point out the terrible truth before the singles matches started. "Watson has long been known for his strong opinions and ironclad resolve, but his decision-making at Gleneagles has been shaky and unconvincing at a competition where the underdog Americans have no room for error."

The U.S. even lost the singles 6½ to 5½. "I knew Paul would send his best players out first, so I did the same," was Watson's answer.

Still, we weren't just outmanned or outmaneuvered, the Yanks were outplayed.

"Europe made 110 birdies this weekend, the U.S. only made 78," noted golf writer and radio producer Ryan Ballengee of the Golf News Network. "They made over 30 percent more than us. That's how you win the Ryder Cup. You have to go out and take it."

Europe did just that. Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy did the heavy lifting, scoring six points between them. Sergio Garcia also had a strong outing, going 2-1-1 to surge his Ryder Cup record to a brilliant 18-9-5. The Spaniard may not have a major but he, like Poulter and McGinley, is still writing some impressive golf history in this event, which has taken on almost "super-major" status.

"We just got outplayed," agreed Bubba Watson, who got thumped three times this week and failed to score a single point for the U.S. "They went out there and put up birdies. It's nothing we did, it's what they did."

He's right - that was a great European Team, with a capital T.

The worst loss Europe had all weekend was Thomas Bjorn's beard fell 7 and 5 to good fashion sense. Everyone else played well. By contrast, how bad was it for the U.S.? The rookies led the team. The rest was flotsam and jetsam.

Jim Furyk sank to 10-20-4, the most losses in Ryder Cup history. Since he won that weird U.S. Open at Olympia Fields in 2003, he has fizzled at Oakmont, Oak Hill, Olympic Club, Winged Foot, Medinah, East Lake and now Gleneagles.

You know what you say when you see Jim Furyk's name chasing you on a leaderboard? "Thank you."

For those of you scoring at home, yes Mickelson has 19 losses, but they are balanced against 17 wins.

Meanwhile, Hunter Mahan beat our chances to death with his own wedge yet again. He stubbed another chip in another big moment and flushed a 4-up lead to Justin Rose. Only five players in Ryder Cup history have blown a 4-up lead, and all those matches ended in ties.

What are the answers for the Americans?

1. Maybe there shouldn't be captain's picks. Maybe the top eight players automatically qualify, but then take the next eight guys and have them play a tournament against themselves to earn their way onto the team;

2. Bring back the pod system, that way players have a bigger comfort zone with one another and their roles on the team. They know what to expect and can trust in a system that works;

3. More practice round with one another. At Valhalla, guys had been playing together for months. You didn't hear about that as much this time around;

4. Play more alternate shot! Getting beat 7-1 in that format is unacceptable.

Still, the future looks bright away from the scoreboard. The three rookies were prize additions. What's that hit song by Red Wanting Blue? "We Are the New Cool!" Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth and Jimmy Walker had enough fire for 12 guys between the three of them, that's for sure. As long as Dustin Johnson doesn't become the next Anthony Kim and drop off the face of the earth and as long as Dufner can stay healthy, we're as deep as Europe. And if Woods ever gets healthy . . . he might actually be of some use in this event.

The USA will be back. If there was one thing Tom Watson said that I agree with, it's that American resilience and determination are our greatest asset. He told his players the same thing I'd tell the guys next time: "Everything they invented, we perfected."

And remember, Europe, "2016" starts tomorrow.

Since launching his first golf writing website in 2004, http://jayflemma.thegolfspace.com, Jay Flemma 's comparative analysis of golf designs and knowledge of golf course architecture and golf travel have garnered wide industry respect. In researching his book on America's great public golf courses (and whether they're worth the money), Jay has played over 420 nationally ranked public golf courses in 40 different states, and covered seven U.S. Opens and six PGA Championships, along with one trip to the Masters. A four-time award-winning sportswriter, Jay was called the best sports poet alive by both Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports writers and broadcasters. Jay has played about 3 million yards of golf - or close to 2,000 miles. In addition to Cybergolf, his pieces on travel and architecture appear in Golf Observer (www.golfobserver.com), PGA.com, Golf Magazine and other print magazines. When not researching golf courses for design, value and excitement, Jay is an entertainment, copyright, Internet and trademark lawyer and an Entertainment and Internet Law professor in Manhattan. His clients have been nominated for Grammy and Emmy awards, won a Sundance Film Festival Best Director award, performed on stage and screen, and designed pop art for museums and collectors. Jay lives in Forest Hills, N.Y., and is fiercely loyal to his alma maters, Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts and Trinity College in Connecticut.