Follow-Ups To Mickelson-Watson Squabbling
Tim Rosaforte, who reported being in contact via text message with Phil Mickelson Saturday night of the Ryder Cup, writes in Golf World that Mickelson learned of his Saturday afternoon benching after warming up and via text message by Captain Tom Watson.
Granted, Jose Maria Olazabal had trouble communicating such things in 2012, but the idea that Mickelson wasn't worthy of an explanation or even prepared that he might be benched all day might explain what inspired Sunday's press conference comments.
Alan Shipnuck's assessment of Watson's work in contrast to that of Paul McGinley is less than gentle.
Watson made little effort to get to know his charges or do any team building beyond a few get-off-my-lawn speeches. He was a remote and disengaged figure in the run-up to the Cup, and once the competition began, he had little understanding of how his players were feeling, physically or emotionally. (It didn’t help that two of his vice captains -- Ray Floyd, 72, and Andy North, 64 -- are decades removed from playing the Tour and the third, Steve Stricker, 47, is now a part-timer.)
While Watson’s counterpart Paul McGinley, 47, was meticulously prepared, having spent years seeking the counsel of his players over long dinners and b.s. sessions on the range, Watson seemed to be making up his pairings willy-nilly. A series of botched decisions for the Friday-afternoon foursomes had a cascading effect that led him to bench his putative team leader, Phil Mickelson, and Bradley, the guy who could have been the team’s emotional juggernaut, for both Saturday sessions. (To that point they had teamed to go 4–1 in the Ryder Cup.) These proud major champions were understandably wounded by the slight, but according to a team insider, what left them more upset was the heartless way Watson delivered the news.
Shipnuck also writes about his inability to talk to PGA of America President Ted Bishop following the press conference regarding the selection process and shares this about Watson.
A veteran of multiple U.S. teams told me in the aftermath, “A lot of s--- went on behind the scenes that people don’t know about. It will all leak out eventually. People talk about Hal Sutton and Lanny Wadkins, but Watson is going to be remembered as 10 times worse.”
John Hawkins puts Mickelson's remarks into context and believes that long term the candidness will benefit the American side.
Not only does this apply to Watson, whose shortcomings as both a captain and communicator turned PGA of America president Ted Bishop’s outside-the-box experiment into a bust, but Mickelson himself. In offering such a candid and visible assessment of the 2014 captain, Philly Mick was roasted by several prominent voices for violating the very essence of appropriate team conduct.
What happens in the team room stays in the team room, or so we’re led to believe. The funny thing about media – some of us chastise guys like Mickelson for talking out of school, then lick up every last crumb, no matter how dirty.
Some of my favorite golf journalists, including Golf Channel teammates Rex Hoggard and Tim Rosaforte, have referred to the U.S. news conference as one of the most awkward moments in Ryder Cup history, and I certainly wouldn’t disagree. It was hard to watch and impossible not to, if you know what I mean.
Perhaps it was also necessary, or at the very least, a much-needed attempt to shake up a system that has produced lousy results for far too long. Bishop chose Watson himself. Why is there no committee for such an important appointment? As I wondered here a couple of weeks ago, why are the U.S. captains’ picks made almost a month before the actual matches – before the final two FedEx Cup playoff events?
Robert Lusetich calls Mickelson's comments "a graceless mutiny of one" and feels players should not need to be invested in the matches via gimmicks like a pod system.
Mickelson -- who always needs to be the smartest guy in the room -- recounted how great Paul Azinger was as captain because he got players "invested in the process."
I could stop right there and say, if you're not invested in the process anyway, then don't play. You're representing the United States, and if you can't get up for that does it matter who captains?
Mickelson went on to say Azinger's tactic of splitting the 12 players into three pods of four -- and giving them a lot of autonomy within those groupings -- was the key.
"He had a great game plan," Mickelson said. "We use that same process in the Presidents Cup and we do really well. 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."
In other words, Phil likes to have his voice heard, and Tom Watson didn't listen.
Monday, September 29, 2014 at 11:50 PM
Reader Comments (111)
For the information of Robert Lusetich, who must be a big Watson fan or very anti Phil, "invested in the process" means being involved with, and knowing the background and reasons for, decisions as they are made by the captain. Not being texted "you're not playing".
2. Great players don't necessarily make great coaches. It's true in all sports, and golf is no exception. Kareem Abdul Jabar is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, but he's never been able to land a significant head coaching job, because he comes off as aloof with poor communication skills. Magic Johnson is arguably the greatest point guard of all-time, and didn't fare well as a coach. I doubt Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant would ever be able to successfully coach a team. Mike Krzyzewski rode the pine at basketball powerhouse West Point and went on to become one of the most successful basketball coaches in history. Paul Azinger had a fine career, but of course isn't in the same stratosphere as Tom Watson, a Hall of Famer and multiple major winner. But Azinger possesses organizational skills, is a top-notch communicator and is a natural leader.
3. Speaking of coaches, perhaps they should call the next Ryder Cup captain "Coach" instead of "Captain." When you throw the word "Coach" in front of a name, it brings things to light. Knowing Tom Watson's personality and backstory, referring to him as "Coach Watson" sounds like whoever picked him to lead make a mistake in doing so. Referring to him as "Captain Watson" somehow veils his inadequacies. A captain is a guy who flies whatever commercial airliner you're on, and you never see his face. A coach is someone you revere, someone you expect to lead.
4. Europe has less pressure than the Americans, because they're a collection of various and separate countries. If you're on Team Europe, you don't have to hear the body of land you're representing hype up a three-day event for two straight years. If you're on Team Europe and fall short (like in 2008), you don't have to go back to Europe and turn on your TV and hear how you choked or hear people second guess you – rather, you go back to your country (i.e. Germany or Spain) and you can blame Ireland, Scotland or France for dropping the ball. (In actuality, if you're on Team Europe, you're probably going back to Florida after the event. Players on Team USA don't have the pleasure of heading back home to Liverpool.)
5. Speaking of separate countries, if the opposing team to Team USA gets an entire continent to work with, so should the Americans. It should be continent versus continent, not continent versus country. It should be Europe versus North America. Sure, there's only one player from the rest of the continent (outside of America) currently ranked in the Top 50 in the world (Graham Delaet), but in the event that there's ever a male Lorena Ochoa or another circa-2003 Mike Weir, the Americans might be able to scrounge up another half a point.
I am having a very hard time not changing my mind about him because of the way he threw Tom under the bus in such a public way. He owes Tom, the Tour and the team an apology.
And the way Tom has handled it just confirms the respect and admiration that he has earned...winning and losing with grace and respect....a quality his generation of golfers has failed to pass on to the present generation...of golfers, media or fans.
OK, I've said my piece.
4PA (F3PA)
Concerning #5, you better check with Canada first. I am not sure Canada would jump at the opportunity to join.
Instead of players taking responsibility for their poor play or blaming the captain, I am sure it would be just be more "blame Canada".
Hey, btw. Can we get rid of Michael Jordan? Why is he skating by? Seriously, I'll tell him he's done just get me his number. While I'm at it he was ducking Hakeem's best Rockets teams hiding in minor league baseball.
what in god's name should he apologize for?
Coach's do make a difference, system makes a difference, & they allow players to play their best. Players can of course overcome disadvantages, but that Europe team was stacked enoug already, they didn't need the help.
In that time, America had Tiger and Phil covering up the cracks with their stellar golf, with the rest of the nation happy to be in their considerable wake. Now some of them complain about time zones if they have to fly to the Open over here, miss their family, while the Europeans have to leave home to compete in the States where 3 of the 4 majors are played, most of the big ranking events are. But they don't complain, they get on with it.
Is it any wonder Team USA have lost 8 out of the last 10 Ryder cups ?
Frankly, I'm not that surprised anymore.
Hey Phil....Want to win the Ryder Cup? How about you and your team.....Play Better!
The guy wins 1 Ryder Cup (on home soil) and all you Americans think he's God!
Sure he may have a good system or whatever, but he already cashed in on his experience and wrote a book about it. All of the Euro captains and players read the book which renders the contents quite useless now.... The PGA should take this as a sign that Azinger has moved on.... How could you not?
Sands asked Phil "Do you think there's a formula perhaps missing for the United States side that the Europeans have found here in the last five or ten Ryder Cups?"
Phil said, "Yes."
Sands asked him to elaborate and Phil at first demurred and then talked about Zinger's formula pretty much like he did in the press conference, including asking why "...we don't revisit that?"
It's pretty clear that the press conference question was a followup on those comments. Surely no one can expect a room full of journalists to let THAT go without a followup?
I replayed it last night, (it happens at about 5:53 in Sunday's broadcast) and I thought Sands was almost dumbstruck when Phil said "Yes" so emphatically. But now I'm wondering if Phil hadn't been talking about it and Sands knew he wanted to get it out.
Phil has long been a master at making the calculated statement to stir the pot and/or get what he wants. Sometimes it comes out as an outrageous statement.
One of my favorites was when he was pissed about Condition of Competition regarding grooves, and the fact that the USGA was still forced to allow original Eye2 grooves as part of its court settlement with Ping.
So when he showed up in Phoenix that January, instead of wedges with new grooves, he had his old Ping wedges. And he got what he wanted, he made everyone look stupid, and in the end only John Solheim bailed out the USGA by agreeing to let them ignore the dea they made with his dad,
FWIW, I think Karsten might have disowned the kid if he'd still been around. For all his quirks, one thing Karsten was emphatic about was ensuring that his customers didn't have to dump their Ping equipment because someone changed the rules on them.
K1P
I'm a bit of a dinosaur, but I can almost understand kids' fascination with sending text messages. But why adults can't pick up the phone and talk to one another is beyond me.
And get rid of that god awful "Captain" title for a nonplaying leader. When the "Captain" of the team was a player it made sense, now it's an empty title. The U.S. team needs a coach, not a swing coach, but a team coach.
Watson leaking the text plea from Mickelson and Bradley trying to make the team on Saturday afternoon. That wasn't very classy either.
I can imagine all this being said in the breathless, high-pitched voice of Sen. Huckleberry Graham of the great state of SC being interviewed by Rosaforte. I am guessing that Old Tom has dealt with tougher opponents and questioners than Phil, maybe back in the first marriage days. I'm still of the camp that Phil didn't say enough.
Also agree with the comments above about using a phone for its intended purpose at times, instead of as a text machine, especially when you are giving bad news to a friend or teammate. You don't have to be like that "Good news, bad news" FedEx boss in the commercial if you are an actual leader.
Let's start by having the WGC events outside of the States, and two majors out of four outside of the States (Although the USPGA carries one of the most kick-a$$ trophy in professional golf, it is simply a glorified PGA tour event that could easily go global as half suggested by the PGA of America).
We would then have a better idea on how really good US golfers are versus non-US golfers at present. Then we will be able to see if it is reasonable to expect the US to win 50% of the Ryder Cup matches in its post-1979 format as opposed to losing 3 in 4 as it is the case in the last 20 years.
Maybe the problem causing the US to regularly lose the Ryder Cup is not one of using a wrong template, but one of using the wrong yardstick to value greatness in golf that make US golfers look better than they really are.
In my view, once global US players like Peter Uhlein and Brooks Koepka start making the US Ryder Cup team, then the US will stand a greater chance to win one in two.
Watson may have done his best, but he made some very poor decisions, and if his co pilots were egging him on, they deserve to be lambasted.
Yes, play better is the real answer; biut if you are not playing you cannottt play btter.
the 2 you Texans were rested with a short Friday mornng, and were sat down, and from there it was all downhill, and not in a good way.
Again, much credit must be given to the Euros who played great--butt a putt here and there would have made the points come out the other way, and everyone can easily see that.
It was good to see Sergio playing well again, and lastly. Simpson should consider the walk of shame if he has any integrity at all.
and to those who dissed PM for not riding the ''team plane''-- he was already in Europe- was he supposed to fly back to the US to fly back to Scotlland? Get real.
Texting is for school girls.