U.S. strategies spelled doom
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – How fortunate we are to be blessed with the gift of hindsight, especially when it comes to that biennial second-guess-fest known as the Ryder Cup.
If U.S. captain Hal Sutton knew a week ago what he knows now … chances are the Europeans would still claim the cup in resounding and record-setting fashion. That’s how impressive the Europeans were over three days here, and that’s how utterly lost Sutton’s band of millionaires looked on Oakland Hills’ treacherous greens.
But perhaps there’s some truth to the theory that, just as everything European captain Bernhard Langer touched turned to gold last week, even the subtlest of Sutton’s moves were doomed right from the start. Granted, the captain wasn’t the one missing all the key putts during the weekend, but we now know of a few buttons he could have pushed that would have improved his team’s fortunes. For instance:
1. Keep Tiger and Phil apart: This is the easy one, of course, not only because the two U.S. superstars were clearly ill at ease with one another, but because pairing them together brought more risk than reward. Had they won their matches Friday, it would be because they were supposed to. But in seeing his star tandem fall behind early to Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie that morning, Sutton also emboldened the Europeans. And once the ball got rolling, it never stopped. Which brings us to our next point …
2. Comfort matters: To be fair to Sutton, he didn’t exactly have a winning formula to draw on when he took over the captaincy. That said, the theory that players would perform better with partners they’re not terribly comfortable with was unfounded, and ultimately, costly. As the Europeans showed, the tighter the bond between the two players, the more willing they’d be to feed off each other’s energy. That’s easy for any pairing to do when things are going well, but much more difficult, and far more important, when they’re struggling.
3. Let players practice with their four-ball and foursomes partners earlier in the week: This was another flawed Sutton argument, one that said if his players worried only about their own games in practice rounds, everything would fall into place. Not exactly. Because what we know now is team golf demands that you have an insight into your partners’ game right from the start. The most effective pairs this week, from Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke, to even Tiger Woods and Chris Riley, were the ones that felt comfortable coaxing one another at key moments. That’s a tough thing to do when your eyes have been only on your own golf ball most of the time.
4. Work the underdog angle: While no one was silly enough to suggest last week would be easy for the Americans – that’d be a bit of a stretch since they had already lost three of the last four Cups – perhaps the U.S. would have been better served if they deferred more often to their opponents prowess in Ryder Cup play. As Mickelson said, the Americans played like they felt they had nothing to gain and everything to lose at Oakland Hills. But if they established early that this was an event that didn’t play to their strengths, maybe the pressure on them wouldn’t have been as intense.
5. Lighten up: OK, so maybe this is easier said than done. It’s much easier to crack a smile when you’re making birdies to win holes than when you’re making bogeys to lose them. But if there was a way to diffuse the tension that was so palpable around the Americans even before the competition began, that too would be to their benefit. As it is now, the Europeans seem to enjoy the Ryder Cup experience more. They, too, feel the pressure of the event, but that stems from simply wanting to win. Too often with the home team this week, the pressure was about not wanting to lose.