At Least The Ryder Cup Task Force Sessions Allowed Phil To Ask Davis About One Nagging Question From 2012...

While we await next Tuesday's Ryder Cup press conference announcement to confirm that we'll have 18 months of hearing about Davis Love redeeming the 2012 Ryder Cup loss at Medinah (oh joy!), Love is already revealing a few things that came up in the vaunted task force meetings.

If nothing else, it seems, Love and Phil Mickelson finally talked about the curious Sunday hole location that at Medinah's 17th that gave the Americans fits.

Adam Schupak writing for Golfweek from Riviera, where Love is en route to a missed while a potential future Ryder Cupper is missing out on a chance to pick up a few points.

Love fell on his sword then and now, but the captain can only take so much blame when his players failed to earn more than 3 ½ points out of 12 during Sunday’s singles competition. When asked his biggest regret from Medinah, Love said, “There’s about 10. I learned a lot. I learned a lot from Darren Clarke the night after Medinah when we sat around and talked. I learned a lot in the process with the task force. Phil (Mickelson) and I hadn’t really talked about Medinah until the task force. What was great about it is we were very open and honest. He said, ‘What was with the pin on 17?’ I said, ‘I know.’ Why was the pin over on there? We needed it in the middle of the green. We can all hit it on the green. We let tradition stick it on the right. I’m not blaming anybody. I’m blaming myself. We won’t make that mistake again.”

Definitely, especially since the matches are at Hazeltine instead of Medinah.

Anyone else think it's odd it took a task force to clear the air on something as basic about this?

We kicked around the 2012 Ryder Cup course setup topic here and the main takeaway was less about that one hole location and instead, the backfiring of course setup as a way to win when it only inspires the visiting team.

In the weeks after the Cup, Alex Miceli revisited some of these matters with then-former captain Love.

“I don't get mad at whoever is writing articles saying we should have done this, should have done that, because as soon as we get done, we all go inside and we talk about the shots that guys hit; can you believe this guy did that and that guy did that,” Love said after a nine-hole practice round for this week's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals Open, in which he will play his first competitive tournament in more than a month. “What's hard for me is why you would second‑guess the first two days. I can see second‑guessing Sunday, because we got pounded. But we pounded them the first two days.”

Keegan Still Hasn't Unpacked That Medinah Suitcase

Somewhere on the Really? scale between Bubba's recording a solo rap video and Ted Bishop loses his job for typing "lil girl" is this insight from Keegan Bradley's Golf Magazine interview with Cameron Morfit.

Namely, the suitcase from his losing (but incredibly valiant) 2012 Ryder Cup experience remains unpacked. And presumably, still unpacked after another losing effort at Gleneagles in 2014.

It's still packed up. It's such a bummer, because I had all these plans. I had a bottle of Champagne that was left over from Chicago. I had a bunch of things I wanted to do with the guys, but we've got such a great group of guys that we're going to be tough for years to come.

Something tells me the Ebola sterilization crews here in the States will have another job on their hands once Keegan is ready to open up that suitcase.

Rory Dating One Of His ’12 Ryder Cup Saviors?

Irish media reports rejoiced at the sights of Rory McIlroy and Erica Stoll in Ireland over the holidays.

Stoll is famously credited as the first person to discover that McIlroy was extremely late for his singles match tee time at the 2012 Ryder Cup. McIlroy said he had gotten the time zones confused.

Here is the Belfast Telegraph story on the various sightings of McIlroy and his Ryder Cup rescuer's New Year's tourism exploits.

Hal Sutton: America Is Not Producing Complete Players And The Ryder Cup Is Proof Of That

I'm a little surprised that golf.com chose to frame this excerpt from their Hal Sutton's interview with Alan Bastable as a Tiger-Phil-letting-us-down item, when it's clear the former Ryder Cup captain is saying the superstars have let us down in the Ryder Cup because there is too much for them to do.

Anyway, great to see Hal letting his feelings be known!

We've created some real superstars in the U.S. who have failed us when it comes to [the Ryder Cup]. They don't fail because they don't have enough talent; they fail because there's too much for them to do.

You mean Tiger and Phil?

Yeah. I mean Tiger's Ryder Cup record [13-14-2] is not very good at all, but everyone expects him to carry the team. He can't get but five points. That ain't gonna win it. So everyone else has got to perform. One of the reasons I think Europe is better than we are is they know more of the game. They have all the shots instead of half the shots. We've been playing the game in the air constantly. It's easier to learn how to play the game in the air than it is on the ground, so it's easier for them to learn to adapt to our style than it is for us to adapt to their style.

Of course after last week's Open Championship where Phil Mickelson won and Tiger Woods finished T6, while Hunter Mahan also played well, the Euros should stay away from links courses in the Ryder Cup. Oh wait, silly me, they only select venues based on maximum profitability!

Rory's Ryder Ride Remaindered On eBay

The Crown Vic that delivered Rory McIlroy to the Ryder Cup when he misunderstood time zones is now on eBay for your buying pleasure.

Poulter Reviews The Tape: ''If he goes left corner, left corner, they win the Ryder Cup."

Doug Ferguson talks to Ian Poulter about finally watching the 2012 Ryder Cup that the Englishman played so well in this year.

He concludes that the 17th and 18th hole Sunday pin placements made the difference.

His only criticism of U.S. Captain Davis Love III was the very thing Love already has said he regrets -- the hole locations for Sunday singles. The pin was far right on the 17th and front right on the 18th.

''If he goes left corner, left corner, they win the Ryder Cup,'' Poulter said, noting that most of the Americans favor a right-to-left shot.

First Thing Rory Can Buy With His Nike Money: The Ryder Cup Crown Vic

In an Onionesque tale of bureaucracy, Marie Wilson says the village of Lombard wants to sell the 2005 Vic that got Rory McIlroy to Medinah on time, but first they have to get to the bottom of a scandal! 

This scary notion that Deputy Chief Pat Rollins drives the car to and from home in case he's called to a crime scene during his off-duty hours. Perish the thought!

Trustees continued discussions Thursday night, but did not come to a conclusion on whether Rollins should be allowed to drive his squad car back and forth between his home about 10 miles from the limits of the village. Village Manager David Hulseberg said the car used to transport McIlroy cannot be sold until trustees address those concerns and authorize the purchase of a replacement vehicle.

Ryder Cup Spat Settled: Hanson And Ollie Make Up

You may recall that Captain Communication neglected to tell Peter Hanson his playing status in Saturday afternoon's four-balls at Medinah until about 15 minutes before Hanson would have needed to be ready to go.

Hanson blasted Jose Maria Olazabal's communication skills but now the two have sat down in China and agreed where Hanson will send his Christmas card to the captain after all, reports Fatiha Betscher.

“So I do understand where Peter is coming from and the best thing is that we left Medinah as a team, a winning team, and we will still be a team.

“I don’t take his comments personal even though it was tough on him.  But then it was tough on me because I would have loved the opportunity of what I did on the Friday.

“And at the end of the day we got the fantastic result we needed, so I am looking forward now to receiving that Christmas card from Peter, and many more Christmas cards.”

By the way did you know Europe did not merely retain the Ryder Cup, they won it?

That modest reminder from the Captain, who was not content with a tie due to "rules being rules," and who missed a golden opportunity for a historic sportsmanship opportunity, may surpass Monty's career total of Captain-win-reminders by...Christmas.

“The three vice-captains here, and I know Thomas (Bjorn) is not competing this week, but they knew how much it meant to me to win the Ryder Cup,” said Olazabal.

“But in the list of my achievements in my career, including my two Major wins, to win the Ryder Cup was unbelievable and it ranks Number One."

"If I'd have just put the pin left on 17 on Sunday rather than right, would that have made a difference?"

Ryder Cup Captain Davis Love continues to second guess himself for the last two hole locations on Sunday at Medinah.

From an unbylined Reuters report:

"We really may have dropped the ball on pin placements on the last few holes," Love told reporters on Wednesday while preparing for this week's McGladrey Classic at St. Simons Island, Georgia.

"We wanted pins on the left and in the middle of the green because a lot of our guys were drawing it (the ball) in there.

"The most two important holes in the singles came down to 17 and 18 and we had pins where if you hit it long and left, it was tough to get close to the pins because they were on the right. Should we have thought of that? Maybe."

Mark O'Meara: What About Me?!

Mark O'Meara, two-time major winner and seemingly very well liked guy who would have made a fine Ryder Cup Captain, from a Morning Drive appearance Thursday:

“I feel a little disappointed, yeah. Kind of hoped that I’d get the job in Ireland,” O’Meara said, referring to the 2006 Ryder Cup held at the K Club in Kildare, Ireland. Tom Lehman led the U.S. squad to an 18 ½ to 9 ½ defeat.

“I certainly wouldn’t have been disappointed if I had gotten passed over for Larry Nelson,” added O’Meara, who played on five U.S. Ryder Cup teams, going 4-9-1.

"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.

Tiger As A Future Ryder Cup Captain: There's A Debate?

Apparently Tiger Woods suggesting he might like to captain a Ryder Cup team has prompted even some debate about the possible strengths or merits of a Woods captaincy?

Hate to interject, but he'll be a captain because (A) he's earned the right many times over if he wants to do it (B) he'll raise the already ridiculously high bar for Ryder Cup interest and intrigue that will already have been raised by a Mickelson captaincy.

Or, in the PGA of America's world, Tiger'll make them gobs of money.

Ron Sirak, contemplating a Tiger captaincy some day:

My guess there is that the PGA of America would fall all over itself to say "yes" if Tiger indicated he really wanted the job. I mean talk about being handed a sure-fire marketing situation. The Ryder Cup would go from a cash cow to a cash herd.

It's easy to say the Ryder Cup captains get too much credit for victories and too much blame for losses. But from where I sit, Seve Ballesteros and Ben Crenshaw made a difference for winning sides while Sutton and Mark James, with his Sunday singles line-up for Europe in 1999, contributed to losses.

So, I guess what I am saying is that I think the captain can make a difference, and I'm not so sure Tiger would make a good captain. But I will say this, if he had the position, here is what he would bring to the job: Intelligence and a desire to win.