Azinger to be US Ryder Cup captain...

The ignorance of golf on this board is astounding. Does anyone think Tiger will not make the team on points?
Idiots.

 

Nothing's impossible, Hondo. Suppose he takes all of 2008 off on paternity leave?

 

Any chance Azinger can leave for the job now? Having him, Faldo and Finch in the booth is brutal. Individually, I think these guys are pretty good, but all in there together they're just sniping at one another and trying to be funny.

Too many cooks spoil the stew.

 

For a bunch of supposed sports journalists, the posters on this thread don't know jack about golf.

 

Maybe everyone will fare better if we start a NASCAR thread . . .

 

Someone please enlighten me how a captain will help you win 18 holes.

"WOODS YOU DOUCHEBAG. YOU LOLLIGAG HERE AND YOU LOLLIGAG THERE AND YOU CAN'T WIN 18 HOLES. MICKELSON, YOU SUCK TOO AND YOUR MAN TITS ARE IN THE WAY. YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF FUCKING LOOSERS."

Please, enlighten me.

 

A captain could:

1. Strongly urge Ryder Cup candidates to play practice round doubles matches at Tour events with other potential team members.
2. Urge them to play best ball and alterante shot, and forgo games such as Nassaus, skins and hammer. (If I have to explain how those games work, you don't know enough about golf to be on this thread. Go find a college football or a Bush-bashing thread ... oh wait, most of you don't know jack about that either).

anyway, to continue...

3. Urge players to travel to the Ryder Cup MORE THAN ONCE and play there.

4. Make his captain's picks some hungry kid who's never been on the team, rather than a tired old hack. Maybe it will work. Try something different, anyway.

5. Tell Phil to get stupid on his own time. Team match play is all about playing conservatively and getting the ball in the hole.

That's free advice for Azinger.

3.

 

Well, FB-Bat, chemistry has a lot to do with golf in events that require a partner, especially when one player is playing like shit and dragging the pair down. US Captains have tried to put together pairings that they think will be fun and loose (Mickelson and Toms/DiMarco) and tried to put together pairings that supposedly will be so focused and intense they will push one another to greatness (Woods and Mickelson).

None of it has really worked, and we can argue that it's more about the players stepping up and playing than it is the team chemistry (it's probably both), but for whatever reason, the Euro captains seem to make all the right moves when it matters, and they consistently get magic from guys whom no one expects to do squat. Some of that shock comes from simple media ignorance (golfers on the European tour are a lot better than people think; the fact that a Euro hasn't won a major on US soil in bloody forever helps perpetuate the myth that US golfers are superior in every way) and some of it is chemistry. Our players, for whatever reason, don't trust one another or don't like one another enough to play their best golf when they're competing together.

Captains strategy can make a difference though. In 1999, Crenshaw front-loaded his singles lineup on the last day, and when Lehman, Love, Mickelson, Duval, Sutton and Woods went out and started kicking the shit out of the Euros inferior players, it created a snowball effect. If he doesn't do that, we might be talking about Europe shooting for its sixth consecutive Ryder Cup in two years.

I'm not sure if Azinger is the answer, because I'm not sure there is an answer. I'm reluctant to say this, because it's sort of like giving up and crying uncle, but maybe Europe simply has too big of a pool of players to choose from for the Ryder Cup to continue to exist in its current format. The US used to dominant when it was just UK vs. the US, and for good reason. We had a larger population from which to develop talented golfers. Now, the opposite is true. Europe has the advantage. Give us Australia, Fiji, Japan, Canada and Korea, and the Euros South Africa, and maybe things would be more even again. That will probably never happen, and it probably shouldn't either. It's like Davis Cup in tennis. We can't go begging to change the rules simply because we're no good anymore.

Or, Tiger and Phil could just nut up and play like Tiger and Phil for once, and perhaps the other players would follow their lead. Otherwise, I like the idea mentioned by someone (wish I could remember who) where the PGA Tour has an apprenticeship where we send four or five of our best young players to Europe for a year and give them an exemption where they can't lose their card. That way, they bond, learn to play European style (hit it low, let it release) and tell them to, every off day, practice alternate shot, four-ball, ect. If we're actually serious about winning, we need to take it seriously.

EDIT: Hondo is right. Our guys grow up playing too many individual money games.

Also, RedSmithClone is making me rethink my position in favor of stem cell research. Clearly, something went wrong in the cloning process.

DOUBLE EDIT: Oops, it seems at a quick glance thought Claws For Concern was RedSmithClone. Apologies to all offended persons.

Now, Claws, let me add that you are clueless about this issue.

 

I agree with the thoughts that perhaps Azinger should go another route with his captains picks - to me, a guy like Steve Stricker would have been a smart pick this year. Always one of the best on and around the greens, he contended in two major championships this year - plus he really wanted a shot at it. That hunger would have been refreshing - especially since he would have been a rookie that was not intimidated by the stage.

it seems like the arguments about why the US can't win a Ryder Cup are eerily similar to the reasons why the US is not a dominant hoops or baseball power anymore in international competition.