So just like my old captains, I try to stay out of the way. With the pairings, I asked them to write down whom they preferred to play with and whom they would prefer not to play with. If I found that there was a player who was no one's preferred partner, I went to guys and asked if they would play with so and so. Each one I ever asked said yes.
At the same time, I've avoided talking strategy for better-ball and alternate-shot pairings. The more you pile on these guys, the less response you get. That's why I told Paul I didn't think his assistant captains, Raymond Floyd, Dave Stockton and Olin Browne, should be involved in coaching the players. Raymond and Dave were both tremendous competitors and tacticians as well as former captains, but they should be there primarily to advise Paul. There will be times in the course of the week when the players might want to pick their brains or ask to hear some stories. Those can be wonderful moments, and I've had a lot of them at Presidents Cups. But I think preaching to the players can decrease your chances of winning.
NO. 7 / PAR 5 / 601 YARDS / The alternate fairway on the left, which shortens the hole by about 65 yards, is only 26 yards wide but offers rewards for aggressive play.
FOCUS AND PRESSURE
I remember what I was like as a Ryder Cup player. It was a great honor to make the team and to represent my country, but frankly, by the time the matches rolled around in September, I was nearly golfed out. The major-championship season was over, and I was already in the process of recharging for next year. I think a lot of my teammates felt the same way.
I've read where players say that the Ryder Cup is the most pressure they've ever felt. That wasn't the case for me. Part of my preparation for my best golf was the intentional pressure I placed on myself, and often I couldn't get in that mind-set in a Ryder Cup. I admit that my 1969 match with Tony Jacklin was a little nerve-racking, but it was still about goodwill, and I was comfortable picking up Tony's coin on the final hole. (The concession halved the individual and team matches, but the United States kept the cup as the defending champion.)
Perhaps my state of mind led to me getting drummed too often. Yes, my Ryder Cup record was OK (17-8-3), but I was beaten in singles four times, including twice by Brian Barnes. That was more singles matches than I lost in my last three years of match play as an amateur.
THE TIGER FACTOR
I never really played my best in the Ryder Cup, and I think Tiger Woods, whose overall record is 10-13-2, has the same issues. After Tiger has gone at maximum intensity in four major championships and probably won at least one, the Ryder Cup guys sidle up to him and say, "OK, Tiger, now we get to the important stuff." He's not necessarily going to get up for that. I don't care what you ask him to do. It's just not going to happen.
So on my teams, I've just told him, "Tiger, have fun, enjoy it, play the best you can. I understand where you are." And he'd say, "I'll be fine, Cap. I'll be right there." The point is, I let him tell me that, not me tell him. I mean, if he turns around and plays great, fantastic. But I don't think it's my job to go in there and hover over him. And he's always given me all he's got.
Tiger won't be playing in the matches this year, of course. If he were, I'd consider the Americans big favorites. I still think they'll win. I just believe we have better players. Europe has a lot of good players and a host of very promising young guys. But who among them has a great record? It isn't like the 1987 European team that had Ballesteros, Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Jose Maria Olazabal. We probably didn't give them enough credit at the time, but history has proved those guys were great players. It was no accident they won. But there's no reason the U.S. team should lose the Ryder Cup at Valhalla.
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