Feature
Mickelson fi nished 30t out of 30, whilst Tiger
appeared back to his best, dressed in the pomp of
his Sunday red, winning the prestigious TOUR
Championship seemingly with impunity, leaving
nine of his US Ryder Cup team-mates and six of
the to-be victorious Europeans in his wake.
And it was widely felt that Team USA, as
favourites and holders – meaning they only
needed a 14 pts – 14 pts tie to retain the small
gold cup – had too much fi repower for an
inexperienced European team under a captain
few had faith in.
However, Europe’s ‘Go-to,’ men, Ian Pouter,
Henrik Stenson and Sergio García, those battle-
hardened Ryder Cup warriors all contributed
heavily to the winning European points total
of 17.5, as did Italian Francesco Molinari, who
became the fi rst European to play fi ve - win fi ve
- in what was a crucial contribution from the
best player in world golf right now, bar none.
As Europe’s winning 12-man-team - comprising
seven different nationalities - celebrated well into
the Parisian night, it was clear from the offi cial
post-match press conferences that all was not
well within Team USA of Furyk conceding the
Cup to his opposite number, whether systemic
or specifi c, nobody new at the time. Defeated
captain Jim Furyk was magnanimous in defeat,
saying, “Hats off to what they accomplished this
week, Thomas [BjØrn] did a great job as captain,
players on their team, class acts, and gritty,” he
said, adding, “When we put some heat on them
early this afternoon, they responded. “They
played some great golf this week, and I take
my cap off, their team out-played us and there’s
nothing else more you can say, they deserved
to win, they played well,” said the man out of
West Chester, Pennsylvania with the obtrusive
corkscrew on his backswing.
Masters champion Patrick Reed, reported to
be less-than-popular in the PGA TOUR locker-
room was fi rst to break USA ranks, was fi rst
up, telling the massed media, “I was looking at
[Jordan] like I was about to light the room up like
Phil in ’14,” adding, “Every day, I saw ‘Leave
your egos at the door,’ but they (the Europeans)
do that better than us.”
Reed was also unhappy that Furyk sat
him out for two sessions. “For somebody as
successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don’t think
it’s smart to sit me twice,” the reigning Masters
champion said. Some–time-later, multiple, (but
unsubstantiated) rumours then began to emerge,
suggesting trouble had fl ared at the post-event
USA captain Jim Furyk’s team lacked focus and cohesion
Poor Timing, Reed’s post-Ryder Cup comments were widely criticised
party, when reigning US Open champion Brooks
Koepka and team-mate Dustin Johnson, who
had taken the US Open title two-years-earlier
allegedly had to be separated following a physical
altercation, reportedly involving Paulina Gretzky,
Johnson’s fi ancée, who was said to be a central
fi gure in the incident, whilst Koepka’s girlfriend,
Jena Sims, was also said to have been involved.
Oh, what an unsightly, unprepossessing and
unattractive picture that particular profi le paints.
By this time, European captain European captain
BjØrn, his 12 players and entire backroom team
would have been well into a second case of one
of their sponsor’s – Mouton Cadet - celebratory
libation, and some. Team USA had already been
under a cloud since an opening-day incident in
which an Egyptian spectator had reportedly lost
the sight of an eye after being struck by a
loose tee-shot from Brooks Koepka.
Whilst sight-loss is a far more
serious outcome than a couple
of highly-charged, former
close-friends-come team-
mates allegedly coming
to blows following a
humiliating
defeat,
a
seemingly
‘Dis-
united States,’ team
looked
increasingly
unmanageable, whilst the
multi-national
European
team seems to bind and
blend with remarkable ease.
Succession planning is said to be
already underway and one might suspect
there could be a few more applications on
European bosses’ desks than solicitations for
what some contemporary PGA TOUR stars are
beginning to see as something of a poisoned
chalice. Indeed, rumour already has it with Lee
Westwood reportedly standing aside until Italy
2022 that Pádraig Harrington will be the 26th
captain from this side of the pond for the re-match
as Whistling Straits in 2020; watch this space.
Furyk then jumped into the Spieth / Reed debate,
saying “Jordan and Patrick have been great in
the past. Whether that’s a point of contention
or not I felt we had two great pairings out of
it. “So it was totally my decision and my call,”
continued Furyk, few believing him, insisting,
“‘It just didn’t work out for them this way but I
would like to put it down to our 12 players just
playing really, really well.” Leadership, it is said,
falls somewhere between an art and a science,
arguably, in sport, especially team sport and in
a pragmatic activity such as golf with its many
GolfPlus
Happy Days, Jim Furyk celebrated happier times pre-Ryder Cup
external factors beyond a captain’s control, more
of a forward planning, hard work and hope-for-
the best approach, but it does appear – be in
culturally, who knows – that, for the time being
at least, Europe has the Indian sign over Captain
America and its charges. Justin Leonard, he who
holed the chaotic winning’ putt, in the ‘Battle of
Brookline,’ in 1999, an event that unquestionably
soured transatlantic Ryder Cup relations for
a generation weighed into the Partick Reed
debate, questioning, “I just don’t see how you
can pick him, adding, for good measure, “I don’t
remember anybody really burning bridges the
way Patrick Reed has.” It has been suggested that
the 2018 Ryder Cup was won before it had even
begun, European captain Thomas BjØrn and his
many assistants – also known as, ‘The next cabs
off the rank,’ were putting the fi nishing
touches to their strategy, issuing
each player with a specially-
commissioned DVD including
touchstone moments and
quintessential quotes from
former captains, Brian
Huggett, Sam Torrance
and José Maria Olazabál.
For
this
correspondent at least,
the term ‘Success’ can be
brought by - and measured
against - a fusion of factors
over which captains and
players have limited control and
infl uence. These include individual,
national and international pride, a sense of
individual and collective purpose, mental and
physical strength, mutual respect, personal and
cumulative desire and, principally, in the case of
Team USA, fi nancial remuneration. Lacking the
former, - the colleagues they require to bond with
are, week-in, week-out, arch rivals on the PGA
TOUR and the latter (intercollegiate affi liations
can often outweigh the bond of the Stars and
Stripes) Jim Furyk’s team, like many before them
(and one suspects after) were / will be deprived
of their primary (some might say ‘sole,’) driving
force – hard cash. Team USA is individually and
corporately bewildered, collectively confused by
the notion that there is no multi-million-dollar
prize fund on the line on the Sunday afternoon,
just a small, somewhat anonymous gold trophy,
communal pride and a sense of countrywide
achievement, which, the next week, the following
big-money tournament can, and will blank out,
sending the memory of a dispiriting defeat into
the far distance.
DECEMBER
2018
27