"Poulter’s remarkable feats at Medinah illustrated what nonsense it is to attach too much importance to the role of the captaincy."

Nice mini-rant from Tom English about the over-importance of Captains in the Ryder Cup.

Colin Montgomerie is a “winning captain”, as he constantly told us on Sky Sports, but he’d have been a dud captain had Graeme McDowell not held his nerve in the last match on the golf course at Celtic Manor and won the day for Europe.

The same with Jose Maria Olazabal, another lucky captain whose shortcomings in the job will be buried for posterity because Ian Poulter played like God. Poulter’s remarkable feats at Medinah illustrated 
what nonsense it is to attach too much importance to the role of the captaincy. As long as they’re not Mr Bean – or Nick Faldo – they should be okay so long as their players are on form.

The captain has to be respected and needs a touch of the statesman about him, as well having very deep pockets for all the cash he can make from the job, but spare us the cosmic talk of strategists and tacticians.

Comments

[FWIW]

Absolutely.

[Ivan Morris]

Even after reading Tom English's rant, I still think the captain of any golf team is important but more in the negative than the positive sense.
A good captain is relatively neutral but a bad captain can ruin a good team. And, in spite of agreeing with Tom that the form of the players is the ultimate key, the captain's strategy is important too.

[chico]

Couldn't agree more.

[johnnnycz]

The only thing a captain can do to hurt the team is to get in the way of his players doing what they do best...over-thinking has ruined many golfers/teams in all sorts of sports.

Keep em comfortable and well fed...let the chips fall where they may is the best strategy...but if you lose, you'll get ripped a new one. Anybody who would lobby for that kind of deal deserves whatever they get in the end. Ollie got very lucky in that sense.

[Hilltop]

Do the Euro captains get a lot of endorsements for being captain? You don't see that in the U.S.

[Press Agent]

Who cares?

Captain in this case is just another name for coach, and one could make an argument that any team could really play without their coach. The whole thesis is stupid and pointless.

[Stanley Thompson]

If your side wins you are a great captai.

If you lose you screwed up.

Don't matter who you are.

O course, it has nothing to do with the players.

[AK47]

A good captain knows it's about getting the players to invest in the team. Faldo was the worst in recent memory, beginning with that horrible speech. Zinger was prepared with pods but, let's face it, Faldo would've lost to anyone because his players had no respect for him. Pavin was in way over his head, too, and Monty got the win. Mostly, though, you can do everything right - a la Lehman - and get smoked because you just don't have the horses.

[John Morris]

'Mr. Bean or Nick Faldo" tha's a keeper. I never realised how alike they are until I read that.
John

[digsouth]

Love that vacation Bean movie. Think Faldo can bug his eyes.like that, or Poulter for that matter.

I am one who thinks a captain is an important component of a winning team. I have stated why many times- to repeat would be poor blogsmanship.

[fyg]

Ollie was a GREAT captain, period.