Azinger Not Ruling Out Captaincy; Wants PGA To Blow-Up Model
Paul Azinger went on a 10-day motorcycle trip and Steve DiMeglio opens his story recounting that image after talking to former Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger about his willingness to not "rule anything out" regarding a return engagement.
DiMeglio writes:
"I'm not going to rule anything out," Azinger, the last victorious U.S. captain in the Ryder Cup, said on Monday.
His phone started blowing up with text messages and voice mails shortly after the U.S. team's post-match press conference.
Sounding like a well rehearsed politician, Azinger is using this unexpected (or was he expecting?) this opportunity to leverage changes in the PGA of America's selection system. He is cleverly backing them into a corner that no doubt has the folks in Palm Beach Gardens thrilled!
"But my goal is the bigger picture. It is time for the PGA of America to recognize the great disconnect and formulate the same business model for selecting a captain as it does for selecting its president and officers.
"Europe consistently repeats a philosophy of leadership that every captain has learned from the captains in the past. 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."
Permanent pods!
Monday, September 29, 2014 at 01:47 PM
Reader Comments (80)
Better yet, since Mickelson already knows everything, let's give Mickelson the 2016 captaincy and see how he does................................ (of course he would be a playing captain because he is such a great player especially with Keegan). Philly would probably have to give himself a captain's pick though.
I feel awful for Larry Nelson, he deserves the honor of the captaincy but it looks like he will be left in the cold once again, But Larry Nelson has too much class for the players today.
Philly Mic for 1016!!!!
Seriously, for God sake, give him another chance. Otherwise, he'll be whining for the rest of time about why nobody did what he did. Plus, he did actually captain a winning side, maybe that will give these guys something to rally around. They really don't appear to be having fun, they look more like they are heading for a colonoscopy.
Philly Mic for 2016!!!!
Philly Mic is #1 so subliminally I typed 1016 instead of 2016.
PhillMic is #1 nice guy, #1 in thumbs up on tour, #1 in class, #1 is knowledge, #1 in business. When I think of Philly Mic I just think #1 and inadvertently typed the wrong date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVuz2yf2GxA
Ole!
That business model produced Teddy Bishop.
And I'm sure he could paint a picture of a compelsive poster/abuser: happy, fulfilled, a good companion for 18 winning or losing holes, tolerant and respectful of others because secure in his self esteem, at peace with his sexuality....
...or perhaps not.
I defy you ( courteously) to find any statement Tom Watson made that is indicative of a "Jesus freak".
I doubt that you will
In addition to adopting more ET-like Captain training plans - and fostering greater interaction between the Captain and the players, the US also badly needs to revise its Ryder Cup Points formulation. The current procedure has multiple flaws,
1) The point race closes after the PGA Championship - which leaves FIVE events (including all four playoff events , attended by most of the top US players) completely out of the calculation of the eight or nine players who make the team on points.
2) The inclusion of the four 2013 majors and doubling of point values for the four 2014 majors makes little statistical sense if the object of the point list is to identify the players who are playing the best NOW. Example: Phil Mickelson placed 5th on the RC points list (guaranteed a spot in the RC. If - rather than that calculation done at the end of the PGA Championship - the selections were based on the final 2013-14 money list, Phil would have placed 38th overall, 28th among just US players and 27th if Dustin Johnson was eliminated from consideration. HUGE DIFFERENCE between being 5th and 27th and the primary difference is composed of three factors - counting 2013 majors (Phil won one and played well), doubling the money won in 2014 majors (Phil placed 2nd in the PGA with a $10 mil purse, his ONLY top 10 on tour this season, and the deletion in the regular RC points of money won in the final five 2014 events (Horschel and Kirk lost out, but Phil's lackluster performance didn't count).
European Tour DOES NOT weight the majors and uses the last 12 months only. Which approach seems to be yielding better results?
I'm not saying that Phil should not get a captain's pick, but - at least this year - he did not deserve a points based pick. Overall, the top 9 would have added Kirk and Horschel and deleted Mickelson and Z Johnson. Captains pick Webb Simpson was significantly further down the final season long money list than the official RC list which ended at the PGA.
Even though Azinger improved the current selection criteria from the pre-2008 version, it still needs to be refined and the selections made even closer to the actual RC.
(I think Bubba's in there as well)
You mean Ricky and Ted's "haircut" didn't do the trick this week? Bubba played like shit? Webb looked like a drunk 10 handicap? Folks, the writing was on the wall before this thing even started.
Maybe the captains need a de-selection pick for undoing automatic qualifiers. Get someone in there who wants it - both the player and the captain.
P.S. I'm in my 20s and didn't know all of this Tom Watson history. His image is sort of a gentlemanly type that has won a ton and maintained his swing for some time now. Didn't realize his kids hated him and he was a drunk with a generally bad attitude.
REALLY? Perhaps like Ted Bishop's Advisory Taskforce to show us how to grow the game, you know, get some guys who know nothing about the game and let them think "outside the box". GIVE ME A BREAK. Or maybe we should do like some of the foreign countries do in the Olympics and appoint a Captain who is from a different Country. Or maybe go really outside the box and appoint a business tycoon CEO type. They know how to manage so well.
Religion should have nothing to do with it.
Using the way PGA selects its presidents is a wrong model to emulate, too obviously. Hope we've seen the end of the preening Bishop.
Not a chance!
There is only one answer: Play better! Play better in Foursomes. Play better in Fourball. Play better in Singles.
I like SGarrett's comment and have stated before, use only the last 12 months. Playoffs should count. Get the hottest players going in.
Because a player played well last year is irrelevant on him playing well now.
All due respect AG, one new PGA President won't buck the system. The PGA of America is too top heavy and politically heavy-handed. One thing they could do is cut out all the free-loaders being on full scholarship for the event.
BTW, when I think about politically naïve people, I always think of Azinger, who wanted to boycott the trip to the White House to meet Clinton. He is an incredible moron.