The Loop
Missing Links: Lehman joins Ryder Cup revamp chorus, and 'prodding and pampering' part of captaincy
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Tom Lehman, himself a former captain of a losing U.S. team, says it's time for the PGA of America to reevaluate its Ryder Cup strategy. "Part of what Phil was saying was something about, hey, we had a formula and it worked. Maybe we ought to think about that," Lehman said in this column by Bob Young of the Arizona Republic. "Forgetting about the forum he said it in, the whole point of the comment is, that's kind of what the Europeans do. They have a formula they go through every year and they have continuity."
Under fire: Tom Watson, PGA of America president Ted Bishop (Getty Images photo)
"[I]n today's Ryder Cup, buy-ins' must be sought, and the details of prodding and pampering are considered integral. That's what it has come to, certainly for the Americans. Captains are on the periphery, but when working with individuals accustomed to having people on the periphery do everything for them, that's where battle lines get drawn…But [Tom] Watson's autocratic approach was ill-suited for the office. That's not his fault, that's PGA president Ted Bishop's fault." St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Dan O'Neill weighs in on U.S. Ryder Cup calamity.
Sergio Garcia would like to captain the European Ryder Cup team one day and he would use Paul McGinley's approach as a template. "They say perfection doesn't exist, but if perfection doesn't exist then he has been as close as you can get to it," Garcia said in this story by Andy Hampson in the Daily Mail. "I think he has done a great job and I have learned a lot from him. Hopefully, one year, in the long-term future, I can bring some of his thoughts into my captaincy. It would be great, it was amazing."
A Ryder Cup captaincy probably is not something for which one should openly campaign. Darren Clarke apparently understands this, as speculation grows that he's next in line for the Europeans. "It's not up to me to discuss it. It's up to the committee," Clarke said in this story by Martin Dempster of the Scotsman. "Whilst I would be delighted to be offered the post, it's the committee's decision. An awful lot has been made about it, but we should be celebrating how well Paul and his team did without all this stuff going on. The committee's there to decide who is the best man for the job."
Johnny Miller's son Andy, himself a former PGA Tour player who won once on the Web.com Tour, was preparing to play in a Frys.com Open qualifier when he received word that he had received a sponsor's exemption, according to this story by Marty James in the Napa Valley Register. The course on which it will be played next week, Silverado Resort and Spa, is owned by Johnny Miller and was the course on which Andy grew up. He is the design director at Silverado and assists his father in his course design business.