Golf

Ryder Cup process a bit offline

By BOB HARIG
Published August 1, 2006

After losing four of the past five Ryder Cups, including an embarrassing defeat two years ago in Detroit, the powers that be at the PGA of America who help determine the United States squad decided to tinker with the formula.

And for good reason. It seemed the makeup of the team every two years was based in good part on the first of a two-year qualifying period rather than on the weeks and months leading up to the event.

But instead of simply dropping the first year from the qualifying process, as the Europeans do, PGA of America officials decided to put a heavy emphasis on the second year of qualifying, with big bonuses for winning. The result has many wondering if they went too far.

With just three weeks to go in the points race that concludes with the PGA Championship, U.S. captain Tom Lehman is staring at the possibility of having four unheralded rookies on his team.

J.J. Henry, Zach Johnson, Brett Wetterich and John Rollins don't figure to scare the Europeans, especially given their penchant for coming up big in this biennial competition. Those four players occupy spots seven through 10 in the point standings. The top 10 automatically qualify for the Sept. 22-24 matches, with Lehman getting two captain's selections.

The stunner came when Rollins, who won the B.C. Open on July 23, jumped from 31st to 10th in the standings. He earned more points for winning a weak-field event played opposite the British Open than Chris DiMarco did for finishing second at the British to Tiger Woods.

The problem with the new system is that it did nothing to differentiate between tournaments, other than majors. A win at the B.C. Open is the same as a win at Doral. Players get points for top-10 finishes only, with a premium on victories.

The PGA of America is standing by its formula, saying it is not the organization's job to rank tournaments by difficulty.

Perhaps it could have taken a page out of the European handbook, however. The European team starts one year out from the Ryder Cup and has a World Ranking component for five players and a European Tour list based on money earnings for five others. The system all but assures captain Ian Woosnam will have the best players on his team. For someone who does not play enough in Europe, he can qualify through the world rankings. And Woosnam also has two at-large picks.

For what it's worth, Lehman does not appear to have a problem with what is happening. He lobbied for a new system and is sticking by it. He knows he has Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, DiMarco, David Toms and Chad Campbell at the top of his lineup. What he could use is for veterans such as Davis Love (14th) and Fred Couples (15th) to make a move.

"I think the reason that the players who are in the top 10 are in the top 10 is because they played the best golf this year, plain and simple," Lehman said. "It's very seldom that the stars win the Cup for you. It's usually the stars are the stars. They do their part. But it's the guys who you don't expect who come through, who get the job done and who make you victorious."

And with three more tournaments and so much volatility, Lehman added, "Our team can change in a hurry."

Around the course: The leaderboard at the Evian Masters during the final round Saturday was one to die for: The top 10 finishers included the top six from the world rankings and only Laura Davies ranked outside the top 13. The women head to this week's Women's British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Anne's, where Annika Sorenstam won in 2003. ... Corey Pavin's first victory in 10 years moved him to 91st in the Official World Ranking. He won despite his driving distance of 263 yards being last in the field at Milwaukee. ... Woods returns to the PGA Tour this week for his first event since winning the British Open. He joins defending champion Vijay Singh at the Buick Open.

[Last modified August 1, 2006, 02:55:40]