Golf

It's clear: Ryder team must raise its game

By BOB HARIG
Published September 26, 2006

You can quibble with the picks and the pairings, debate the merits of the qualification process, wonder about the commitment of the players or consider dozens of other reasons the United States Ryder Cup team is having so much trouble in an event it used to dominate.

All of it neglects a single fact: The top U.S. players need to play better.

It has been the story for three straight defeats to the Europeans, including the latest fiasco in which the Americans were drubbed 18¹/₂ to 9¹/₂ in Ireland, matching the worst defeat ever two years ago at Oakland Hills.

Simply, the top Americans did not get the job done. Again.

Yes, No. 1-ranked Tiger Woods went 3-2, his best showing in five Ryder Cup appearances. But he was an ordinary 2-2 with No. 2 Jim Furyk in the team competition. Furyk then lost his singles match Sunday. No. 3 Phil Mickelson was not on the winning side of a single match, going 0-4-1. David Toms, ranked 15th in the world, was 0-3-1, same for No. 16 Chris DiMarco.

That means those five players, the heart and soul of the U.S. team, managed to factor in 4¹/₂ of the 9¹/₂ points the U.S. team won.

Not nearly enough.

And despite the blowout loss, just a few different outcomes would have had a huge impact.

Go back to Saturday, when the United States trailed 10-6. If two matches go the other way, or four are halved instead of lost, that four-point deficit turns into a tie.

Maybe it wouldn't have mattered, given the sorry state of their singles play. But that is a far easier deficit to overcome.

Or look at it this way. Nine of the 16 team matches went to the 18th hole. The U.S. won the 18th hole just once. They lost three and tied five. That means they had eight chances to improve their situation by half a point and were unable to do it.

"There's one reason and one reason alone," said Ireland's Paul McGinley. "Talent. Nobody understand how good this (European) tour is."

There is no doubt about the quality of play in Europe, but that argument simply does not explain another U.S. defeat. Excluding Woods, who has nine worldwide victories, the rest of the U.S. team had won eight times around the world in 2006. The Europeans? They also posted eight victories.

And how do you explain the European major drought? Only Jose Maria Olazabal on the European side had won a major title, the last of which came in 1999. Three Americans - Woods, Mickelson and Toms - have won majors, with Woods and Mickelson capturing seven of the last 12.

NBC's Johnny Miller again suggested the Europeans' camaraderie is better because they play so many events in foreign outposts, while the Americans are so singular in their pursuits on the PGA Tour.

But players such as Paul Casey and Luke Donald live in the U.S., and the Europeans have their share of guys who travel on private jets. And such camaraderie didn't seem to matter 30 years ago when the Americans were continually handing it to what was then a Great Britain & Ireland team.

"When it comes right down to it, in all of these Cups that I've been a part of, it's whoever plays (No.) 18 the best and whoever makes the most putts for the week," Woods said. "If you look at the way the matches went for the entire week, the Europeans did better."

Second-guessing: It is difficult to fault captain Tom Lehman for the U.S. defeat. He got Woods on board as a team leader, he brought the team to Ireland early to get a feel for the course, he had players practice with their partners in the various formats and he preached the importance of short-game play. It is not his fault the players did not produce.

But there is one area where Lehman might be questioned, and that is his use of Scott Verplank, who went 2-0 and had a hole-in-one Sunday. Verplank was one of Lehman's at-large selections, but played just twice?

Ryder bits: Bradenton's Paul Azinger is expected to be named the next U.S. captain, the announcement coming within the next two months. The 2008 Ryder Cup will be played at Valhalla in Kentucky. Nick Faldo has already been named the European captain. ... Of the 28 matches played, Europe had the lead through nine holes in 16, while seven were tied. ... Mickelson had such a promising start to his Ryder Cup career, going 3-0 in 1995. But he is now 1-9-1 in his past 11 matches.

[Last modified September 26, 2006, 01:25:31]