After the U.S. was embarrassed in their second consecutive Ryder Cup, many were left asking questions about Captain Tom Watson and his decisions throughout the tournament. Veteran Phil Mickelson and former U.S. Captain Paul Azinger made some comments following the team's defeat.
Watson was being questioned ever since he made his final three selections for the team back in early September. He chose Keegan Bradley, Hunter Mahan and Webb Simpson, while many thought he should have omitted Simpson (whose first shot of the tournament was a 190-yard pop up off the tee that barely reached the fairway) and selected Chris Kirk. Kirk finished ahead of Simpson in the Ryder Cup Points standings and was victorious at the BMW Championship, which occurred days before Watson's announcement. Simpson lost and halved his two matchups.
The U.S. Captain then made another questionable decision when he sat rookies Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed in the Friday afternoon foursomes event after the two handily defeated Stephen Gallacher and Ian Poulter 5 & 4 earlier that morning. After the Friday morning fourball, the U.S. led Europe 2 ½ to 1 ½, and then trailed 5 to 3 following the afternoon alternate shot session. Watson then decided to sit Phil Mickelson for all of Saturday (for the first time in his Ryder Cup career), during which the U.S. fell even further behind by the score of 10 to 6 going into the final day.
Mickelson was upset, as it was reported that he texted Watson and asked him to reconsider, but Watson did not budge and sent out Spieth, Reed, Mahan, Jimmy Walker, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Bubba Watson, Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar for the morning/afternoon events.
"I want our team to win," said Mickelson, in this GolfChannel.com article. "Whatever we have to do is all I care about." Mickelson was 1-1-0 on the first day, so Watson's motivated to bench him was bizarre.
The U.S. ended up losing by the score of 16 ½ to 11 ½, thanks to the poor performances on Friday and Saturday afternoon (in those two sessions they trailed 7-1). The last U.S. Captain to win the Ryder Cup was Paul Azinger back in 2008, and he had some things to say after the loss.
"Europe consistently repeats a philosophy of leadership that every captain has learned from the captains in the past," he said, via this ESPN.com article. "It is an approach that is comfortable and familiar. The U.S. approach is less comfortable and completely unfamiliar to every repeat player. The players have to adjust to a completely unique system to the previous two years."
"Unfortunately, we have strayed from a winning formula in 2008 for the last three Ryder Cups, and we need to consider maybe getting back to that formula that helped us play our best," Mickelson added. "There were two things that allowed us to play our best, I think, that Paul Azinger did, and one was he got everybody invested in the process."
Not only were Watson's motives in doubt, but his quality of leadership became a big issue shortly after the event was over. Four unnamed sources told ESPN that during a team bonding session after Saturday's events, Watson reamed out the U.S. squad and criticized their play during the afternoon. He also took no responsibility for the team trailing by four points after the second day and scoffed at a gift that the team members gave to him.
"Instead of thanking them, the sources said Watson said the gift meant nothing to him if the players didn't get the real Ryder Cup on Sunday and that he wanted to be holding it aloft on the green in victory," wrote Bob Harig.
Two days later, Watson issued a six-paragraph statement in which he accepted full responsibility for the team's loss at Gleneagles and commended the effort of the U.S. members. Watson, the former No. 1 golfer in the world from 1978-1982, at least addressed the multiple causes for concern, but that doesn't take away from yet another Ryder Cup loss for the United States.
"I take complete and full responsibility for my communication, and I regret that my words may have made the players feel that I didn't appreciate their commitment and dedication to winning the Ryder Cup. My intentions throughout my term as Captain were both to inspire and to be honest," Watson wrote.
After Mickelson's and Azinger's comments coupled with the team's third consecutive loss, perhaps the PGA of America will discuss selecting captains who are willing to abide by a particular philosophy to avoid such happenings in the future.
