Big Changes To The U.S. Ryder Cup
Yesterday the PGA of America put an end to the worst kept secret in golf, Davis Love III was officially named the U.S. captain for the 2016 Ryder Cup. He is the first handpicked selection of the famed Ryder Cup task force put together to stop the European title wave. The 2012 captain is making such a quick return because he is the example of the fifteen year plan that has been put together since the debacle at Gleneagles. In yesterday’s press conference PGA C.E.O Pete Bevacqua stated this plan is something that will hopefully improve American teams for years to come.
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"“It’s not about one Ryder Cup. I think the ultimate arbiter of that will be looking back twenty, thirty years from now saying; okay did we increase our winning percentage? If we look at the last twenty going 2-8, what will the next twenty years be, the next thirty years and measure it from that type of span.”"
That was the goal of this entire task force. Not to just fix the immediate problems, but to put together a formula that will help the Americans compete with and dare I say even beat the Europeans. I still say there was no need for this top secret task force anyway. It’s very simple the team that plays better during the duration of the event will win and since 1999 that team has been the Europeans. Sure they may have had stronger teams, but these are still world class golfers, they know how to put the ball in the hole. It’s just a matter of actually doing it
This task force to me has deserved plenty of criticism, but they did get something right. They are going to get the best twelve players on the team. It was absurd that Billy Horschell, last year’s FedEx Cup champion was not at Gleneagles. He was obviously the hottest golfer on the planet and he spent the Ryder Cup on the couch. Bevacqua laid out the new plan to ensure something like that never happens again.
"“We did take a deep dive in terms of the captain’s picks, and the ultimate goal is how could we, what could we do, how could we ensure that the very best team is fielded, the players that are on the top of their game as close to The Ryder Cup as possible. So instead of finishing after the PGA Championship, the top eight from The Ryder Cup points list will now qualify following The Barclays on Sunday August 28. That’s roughly a two week extension from what was the norm. After the BMW Championship, which is set to conclude on September 12, Davis will make three of his four captain’s picks. And then finally, on Sunday evening September 25, upon the conclusion of The Tour Championship, Davis will make his final captain’s pick.”"
Sometimes it’s not all about the best players but more about the players who are playing the best “right now.” With Horschel on the team last year I find it hard to believe things wouldn’t have been different. He had to have been a better choice than Webb Simpson who pretty much was there for a free trip to Scotland.
Simpson’s irrelevance at Gleneagles was easily forgotten because of Phil Mickelson’s benching. After not playing all day Saturday, even with a last minute plea to captain Tom Watson, Mickelson let loose in the post tournament press conference. He criticized Watson for not letting the players have a voice in the process, something that according to him has changed now for the years to come.
"“It doesn’t really matter what’s in the past. Now we are moving forward and we’re all working together with interesting and different insights and really working together as a unit and laying the foundation for hopefully a successful run of ten Ryder Cups. I think that it’s exciting for all of us, because we are getting different input from different generations.”"
Yesterday’s presser was the clarification that something was in fact happening in those task force meetings. We can criticize them from here till kingdom come about the level of seriousness that was needed to make these decisions, but it is what it is. All that matters now is that hopefully they get this thing right. Now it’s time for it to be about the golf. It’s time to make more birdies then the Europeans, because that’s what it’s really all about anyway.
All quotes thanks to PGA.com