Furyk, who has been on the other side of the big moment, secured the decisive point for the U.S. Sunday. Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
But enough on all that. This Ryder Cup was about the team that never trailed, an overachieving bunch of Yanks deprived of perhaps the greatest golfer ever, then forced to cope with a glaring abundance of inexperience. "He text [messaged] me at least 10 times yesterday," Azinger said Saturday evening of his communication with Tiger Woods. "He likes to heckle. I told him he needed to step up his heckling skills a little bit, and he brought it today. I didn't know he could take it to such a high level, so I give him credit."
Sounds like Tiger missed the Ryder Cup more than the Ryder Cup missed him, so let's give credit where credit is due. If captains receive too much love in victory and are dealt too much blame in defeat, no American skipper ever worked harder, left fewer stones unturned or got better results than Azinger. His selection of three Ryder Cup rookies was a considerable gamble, but two of those guys (Holmes and Hunter Mahan) went undefeated, and the third, Steve Stricker, made perhaps the biggest putt of the week at the 18th to halve his Saturday four-ball match with Ben Curtis against Garcia and Paul Casey.
"The last thing I want to do is [compare captains] because they all did a great job," said Furyk, whose victory over Jiménez proved the decisive point. "Zinger did a lot of things very well. He has an infectious personality that really affects you, makes you feel comfortable. He's a guy's guy. He likes to hang out and talk smack, he can talk fishing, and when the women come around, he's the perfect gentleman."
Even before the U.S. had applied the finishing touches at Valhalla, there was talk around the 17th green that Azinger should be retained as the captain of the 2010 squad. That hasn't happened since Ben Hogan piloted the Yanks in 1947 and 1949, which makes it very unlikely to happen now. Corey Pavin would seem the most logical candidate to succeed Azinger (see page 40), but if the PGA of America enjoys winning as much as it can't stand losing, it would be wise to think long and hard about deviating from the norm.
Azinger's commitment to the '08 matches was unparalleled. He flew to and from Louisville so often in the last year that he might have saved money if he'd bought the airline. By pushing the event locally with the passion of a guy running for mayor, he generated a level of grass-roots interest that clearly had an effect on the atmosphere. Valhalla's galleries were intense but not over the top, better behaved than the rambunctious crowds that marred the experience at Brookline in 1999.
What most separated Azinger from his predecessors, however, was his systematic approach to the captaincy. Far beyond avoiding the mental clichés or thinking outside the box, he divided his 12-man roster into three groups of four, using personality traits as his guide, and assigned an assistant captain to govern each unit. It may not sound like much, but when you win by five after losing back-to-back Ryder Cups by nine points apiece, it amounts to a touch of genius.
Not only did his players take to the idea, they embraced it. "If you look at my matches in 1997 and 1999, I played six times with six different partners, some of whom I hadn't played a practice round with," said Justin Leonard, who teamed with Mahan to win two matches and halve a third. "When you can be certain of some things going in, that's a huge advantage, especially if you've never done this before."
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