The fate of golf would seem to lie in the hands of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the United States Golf Association. Can we expect that they will protect and reverence the spirit of golf?
MAX BEHR
Besides Jeff Sluman, the former Presidents Cup assistant captain to Jack Nicklaus, Davis Love has tabbed a rookie to be behind the wheel of those snazzy two-row EZ-GO's Club Cars: Scott Verplank.
The Captain's picks that matter will be on September 4.
Sigh...Jeff Rude on another stellar press conference performance by Davis Love and Jose Maria Olazabal, the 2012 Captains, doing nothing to kindle the buffoonery of their predecessors.
How am I, as a blogger, to work with this kind of no-nonsense talk, starting with Davis Love:
As for Mahan, he is a two-time winner this year and has played on the last five U.S. international cup teams – two Ryder, three Presidents. One person close to Love said Mahan would be on the team if he doesn’t qualify on points.
For his part, Love on Tuesday was incredulous that someone who has two 2012 victories would be outside the automatic-qualifier line.
“How can that even happen?” Love said. “You’d think he’d be in.”
Meanwhile, Olazabal provided this tip on where he's leaning with one of his picks, not that I would agree based on Colsaerts' play this year.
European captain Jose Maria Olazabal will make his two picks Aug. 27, a day after the automatic 10 qualifiers are decided at the Johnnie Walker Championship. If the standings remained the same, his most likely choice would seem to be Ian Poulter. The Englishman is 12th on the European Team World Points list, right behind Nicolas Colsaerts.
Poulter has a 9-2 record in three Ryder Cups. He went 4-1 in 2008 and 3-1 last time.
I had not looked at the standings in a while but GolfChannel.com's Will Gray took the two points lists and merged them into the current European Ryder Cup team's likely ten with a couple of nominations for possible Captain's picks.
John Strege makes the case that after Jim Furyk's latest tough loss and career victory total of 16/one major, it will be tough for the veteran to crack the World Golf Hall of Fame.
But a more pressing issue is the question facing Ryder Cup Davis Love in a few weeks. Furyk sits 11th in the Ryder Cup standings. With only the top 8 securing spots and, for the first time in decades, a wealth of solid potential captain's selections, the Captain faces a different dilemma.
Is Furyk the steady presence and designated veteran Tiger-partner Love should select over Steve Stricker? Or would one of the younger players behind Furyk--Fowler, Snedeker, Johnson, Haas--offer a more compelling short and long term selection for Team USA?
After all, maybe it's time for Tiger to assume one of the veteran roles and serve as the steady presence for a younger player?
Strange but interesting times to be the U.S. Captain.
Steve DiMeglio on today's press conference at Congressional where Ryder Cup Captain Davis Love appointed 2013 Presidents Cup Captain Fred Couples and former tour player/caddy/2002 assistant captain Mike Hulbert as his first two assistant captains, with the others to be named later.
The hold up?
"Those two were my natural choices. My next two are going to be harder," Love said.
The team, as it stands heading into the Irish Open and AT&T National: McIlroy, Rose, Lawrie, McDowell, Kaymer, Donald, Westwood, Hanson, Garcia and of course, Fernandez-Castano.
Wait, who?
The U.S. squad is shaping up nicely.
Here is a "gratis" For Immediate Release instant classic:
José María Olazábal says Club Car vehicles will play “crucial” role at Ryder Cup
(June 1, 2012) Ryder Cup European Team Captain José María Olazábal has said a fleet of Club Car vehicles set to be used by him and his four Vice-Captains will have a “crucial” role in team management at Medinah Country Club, Chicago, in September.
;)
Technically it is crucial that the little buggies don't break down, otherwise how would the wives and partners be able to show everyone their uniforms?
Olazábal, who will lead Europe at the 39th edition of The Ryder Cup, made the comments during an official presentation of the Captain’s Club Car at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club.
“For the Captain, it is important to be as close to your players as possible. You need to get to each match as fast as you can, so the golf cars are crucial,” Olazábal explained.
“You need to know how your team is getting on and how your opponents are doing, and to share that information you need to cut through holes, cut through the crowds to cover the distance.”
Key theme here: cut.
Asked how he will feel when he jumps onto his Captain’s Club Car on the first morning of The Ryder Cup in Chicago, Olazábal said:
"Old?"
Oh...
“I couldn’t be any prouder. The Ryder Cup is a great event and is very close to my heart.”
Club Car will not only supply vehicles for both Captains and all Vice-Captains, but for all team and match officials, as well as all on-course television and event logistics.
European Ryder Cup Director Richard Hills said: “Club Car makes The European Tour move.
“The fleet provides an invaluable service to our TV company without which the team that delivers the TV pictures wouldn’t be able to function.
Well, they could rent EZ-GO's and still be okay, no?
“Of course, at The Ryder Cup, the vehicles play an important role – especially for the captains. The pictures of Seve driving around on his Club Car at Valderrama in 1997 were legendary, so to see Club Car present José María Olazábal with his Captain’s car today was poignant.”
Yes, that's the image we all want to associate with Seve, in a golf cart wearing an earpiece.
Just look at the options after the first eight of Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan, Zach Johnson, Keegan Bradley and Rickie Fowler.
Sobel writes:
The next eight on the current points list – Steve Stricker, Tiger Woods, Bill Haas, Brandt Snedeker, Ben Curtis, Johnson Wagner, Kyle Stanley and Mark Wilson – have each won a Tour event already in the year’s first five months, giving the captain plenty of ammo for his four wild-card selections.
All of which leads to one prevailing notion: The team will never be hotter than it is right now.
Granted, that only increases the U.S. chances by mere percentage points. As we’ve often witnessed over the years, the hotter team on paper hardly owns much of an advantage once the first balls are in the air at this biennial grindfest, but even the smallest advantage is still an advantage.
Refuting an AP report from last month in which he was directly quoted about more than two assistant captains creating "a lot of headaches," European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal confirmed that he will go the overkill route and do his part for the ailing European economy by naming one assistant for every three players.
"I am surprised to learn that there have been media reports suggesting that we will have only two vice-captains," said Olazabal.
"It is important to have each match watched because you have to hand in your pairings for the afternoon matches when the players are still out on the course. " Olly on why he wants four assistants Quotes of the week
"I don't know where they could have come from or whether there has been some misunderstanding, but I want to make it clear that I will be selecting four vice-captains.
European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal broke some European hearts by revealing he'll only have two assistant captains at Medinah this fall, bucking the movement toward of a captain for every player. So much for pods!
Asked about his prospects, Fred Couples sounds like he wants the job after Davis Love.
Well, not a great chance. I mean I still have a chance, but I think being the Presidents Cup captain the first time and probably knowing 80 percent of the players really, really, really well and then being at the last time in Australia and I didn't really know Webb Simpson that well or Bubba Watson, but taking care of them, you know, it sounds easy to say, but you want to win, but by being on all these teams, my goal is to make them feel extremely comfortable, and the Presidents Cup is a little more laid back, but it's still four days of golf, so I don't really understand why anything is different.
But we do well in it. And I can promise you that when we're there, you know, that's said a lot, that you know, even though we won ten years ago, it's got a little relevancy when you keep winning. And so our guys enjoy having me around. And I feel like I'm a guy's guy and if one guy gets something handled this way, another guy can get it that way, and it worked out well.
So maybe in the next two or four years I'll get a shot at it, but they are going to name another Presidents Cup captain here in another month and I know they're all pushing for me to do it again, so I'm all for that. But obviously I would ‑‑ I think ‑‑ I mean I would love to be a Ryder Cup captain, there's no doubt.
It took a while but this wire story eventually notes European Ryder Cup Captain Jose Maria Olazabal lurking two back heading into the final round of the Volvo Golf Champions event in South Africa. Golf Channel picks up the coverage here in the States at 8:30 ET.
Monday, August 13, 2012 at 09:04 AM