The Golf Rangefinder Shop

The dust is still settling at Medinah after the European Ryder Cup team stunned the U.S. Team and fans with an unthinkable come from behind victory. Understandably every golf broadcaster, writer and fan is trying to sort it out and explain it. Fingers are being pointed at individual players and of course, the team captain, Davis Love III.

With the U.S. team leading by six points after the first two days, it’s hard to imagine there would be much criticism, but the rumblings started before the afternoon matches ever began on Saturday. Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods  lost two matches on Friday and sitting out the Saturday morning matches. The truth is, many of us were hoping to see Tiger go out with Keegan Bradley on Saturday afternoon, since it seemed like Phil Mickelson wanted a break before the Sunday singles.  Instead, Stricker and Woods were paired again, while Bradley had to find some place other than the golf course to release his energy on Saturday afternoon.  Unfortunately, Woods and Stricker only added to their losing record.

The reason for sitting both Keegan and Phil was stated by both Captain Love and team leader Mickelson… “statistically playing all five matches makes you less likely to win in singles.” In hindsight, it’s easy to see how talking about that statistic is a really bad idea. It totally commits the captain to resting every single player at least one match in the first two days. If you don’t, you’ve already told the guy playing all five, that he’s more likely to lose his singles match. Statistics are great for planning, but there was no need to be talking about that particular piece of information. In the heat of battle, a good leader needs to go with his gut instincts and not be bound by statistics.

But even so, does anyone have any business criticizing a U.S. Team that is six points ahead going into singles matches?

The most obvious thing to criticize about Davis Love III in the Sunday singles defeat, is the lineup. Personally, when I saw it, I was disappointed that Tiger Woods’ match was not going to matter. It turns out that it didn’t matter, but not in the way that I expected. Apparently Captain Love took the input of the players and used that to determine the order. Perhaps if it had been closer, he and his assistants would have agonized over the order and done something different. But honestly, most of those guys in the top of the lineup were playing well and having success. I don’t think any of the critics were really up in arms over the order before Sunday play began.

After the shock of losing, the critics remembered who they really wanted to see on this U.S. Ryder Cup team. Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan were watching it on TV and they are the future of the game. Why didn’t Davis Love pick either of them? If you look back at all the tweets before Davis made his picks, not many were saying Stricker or Furyk should be left off the team… but in hindsight, the criticisms come quickly. Steve Stricker lost all four of his matches and Jim Furyk was 1 & 2. Both lost critical points on Sunday by losing the last two holes. Perhaps the critics have forgotten Hunter Mahan’s chunked chip in a critical moment of the 2010 Ryder Cup or that Fowler went 0-1-2.

Other disenchanted fans have even dared to say that Davis Love’s focus on having fun is what cost the U.S. the Ryder Cup. Yeah, right. There is little question that up until the Sunday collapse, the U.S. Team was having fun. It seemed to most of us on the outside, that there was more team camaraderie than we had seen before. Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley were the poster boys for this enthusiasm of playing with a partner and their golf reflected it on Days 1 & 2. Bubba Watson’s energy in foursomes and fourball, gave American fans a thrill they had never felt before, as he hit his opening tee shots while they cheered. The tables truly had been turned with the U.S. team showing passion for team play.  Isn’t that the biggest complaint the fans and media have had about previous U.S. teams?

That’s why I’d like to see Davis Love III get another shot at captaining the U.S. Ryder Cup team. I think he had his team in the right frame of mind. Possibly one of the hundreds of decisions he made could have changed the outcome, but maybe not. Maybe the spirit of Seve Ballesteros was too strong. Either way, I’d like to see the U.S. team having that much fun on Friday and Saturday again in 2014. I would definitely bet on Captain Love and any team of U.S. players he might lead, if he brought that same attitude one more time.