Ryder Rx, Part I

There’s no other way to put it; the Ryder Cup 2014  was a devastating loss for the Americans all the way around.  Not only was the performance on the golf course a mess, but the post-Cup disclosures of internal strife (and public displays of same) between the captain and his charges was a public relations nightmare.    In order to avoid another embarrassing loss, the entire American approach to the Ryder Cup must change.  Simply put, the current system with respect to overall strategy, player selection and match preparation is broken. 

Please Come To American Soil

First, there must be a unified system to approach and manage the competition holistically.  It must be balanced, it must be wise, it must be permanent.  (Think USA Basketball.)  The Task Force established by the PGA is, simply put, not the solution.  First, as the old expression goes, a camel is a horse made by committee.  Second, three executives and eight golfers, really?  Tiger and Phil paired again, really?  There are three past captains on the committee:  Davis Love III (2012) (loser), Tom Lehman (2006) (loser; match tied so Europe retained Cup)  and Raymond Floyd (1989) (loser). Mickelson and Woods are joined by Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk and Rickie Fowler. Combined Ryder Cup team record of these five golfers:  6-25 (Woods 1-6, Mickelson 2-8, Stricker 1-2, Furyk 2-7, Fowler 0-2).  Conspicuous by his absence?  The last captain to win a match, Paul Azinger.  So we have a group of golfers distinguished by their inability to win the Ryder Cup, led by three PGA executives, one of them the secretary of the organization.  Where is the strategic candlepower in this bunch?  Sharing a booth offsite with the Zinger, I imagine.

Solution:  Put together a management that includes executives from other sports that have actually won an international competition.  How about people with experience in the Olympics? Speaking of USA Basketball, put Jerry Colangelo on the board.  At the very least, examine why the USA team in the President’s cup has been so successful (8 wins, only one loss.)  (The rules are different, requiring all team members to play in the fourball and foursome matches the first two days.  That may be a significant difference.)

Second, and perhaps most obvious, the current player selection for the American Ryder cup team must change.  On the one hand, you simply can't bring 12 golfers together two weeks before the event with a coach that has little or no experience with the same 12 men and expect them to win against the Europeans.  That system is a vestige of the 1960s and ‘70s when you could roll out Palmer, Nicklaus, Miller and Watson and eight other players and still bury the English team.  However, once the American’s opponents expanded the universe from England to include continental Europe in 1979, the talent pool shifted so substantially that the American lost their talent advantage.  

So, now that the talent is equal and the Europeans seem are better prepared to win the competition what can you do to maximize the Americans’ chances.  Arguably, the one element in the PGA’s control that can be altered to strengthen the American team is the player selection process.  

One would think the selection process would be the same for the Americans and the Europeans.  That is actually the farthest thing from the truth.

For the 2014 Ryder Cup team, the 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup points system basically awarded eligibility points exclusively for prize money as follows:

•    Prize money earned in the 2013 major championships (Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship, and PGA Championship):
•    Prize money earned in 2014 PGA Tour events, beginning Oct. 7, 2013, at the Frys.com Open through the 2014 PGA Championship, ending Aug. 10, 2014.
•    Prize money earned for the 2014 major championships: (Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship, and the PGA Championship). Double points awarded for prize money won.)
•    Prize money earned in 2014 events played opposite the major championships and opposite World Golf Championships between Jan. 1 and the 2014 PGA Championship.
•    Team USA captain Tom Watson completed the team with three Captain’s selections in September 2014.

But, for the European team there is a significant difference from the US criteria:

Qualification began following the ISPS Handa Wales Open on September 1, 2013 and ended on August 31, 2014 after the Italian Open. Four players are selected from the European Points List, five not already qualified from the World Points List, and Captain Paul McGinley was allocated three picks as was USA Captain Tom Watson. 

So, while the results may have been the same, the European team does not value the simple accumulation of prize money like the Americans do.  Competitive performance matters as well.  Also, doing well in Majors is nice, but does double cash accumulated in tournaments in the case of the Masters  a year and a half before the Ryder Cup really help select the best golfers?

            As noted in a prior post on September 24, 2014, Fed(Ex) Up:

The oft-maligned Fedex Cup playoff series turned out to be pretty good this year.  Rory continued to dominate, when one might have (reasonably) thought he would mail it in after an incredible run this summer and also getting his mindset ready for the upcoming Ryder Cup.  Then, a new American star emerged.  Billy Horschel, having missed 7 cuts in 24 events during the 2013-14 PGA season coming into the Fedex Cup Series, , including the Barclay’s the week before the Fedex Cup playoffs started, and never having finished higher than T-6 the entire year in 2014, finished 2-1-1 and won the Fedex Cup and the $10 Million bonus that comes with the championship

Looking forward, the red-hot Billy Horschel should give a great boost to the American team at  Gleneagles and help the Americans recapture the Ryder Cup.  Oh, wait a minute,  he's not on the team after finishing second, first and first during the last three tournaments. What?   Oh,  and captain’s picks Keegan Bradley and Buster Mahan finished a collective 13 over par in the FedEx final.  Oh boy.

After watching the results of this past FedEx cup playoff season, the Ryder Cup selection system has to be changed.  America's hottest folder is staying home and Chris Kirk, another American golfer currently on fire, is not playing for USA in Scotland either. Maybe it won’t matter, as the Euros are loaded and playing on their home field, but there has to a be a better way to include American golfers with the hot hand to participate in the Cup and give the Americans their best chance to win. 

Pick Him! Pick Him!

So, save at least one captain’s pick to be made after the Fedex Cup has concluded.  Or simply save the last spot on the team for the winner of the Fedex Cup, if he is an American not already on the team.

 To be continued...

AMDG^TM

© 2012-14 R.E. Kelly