ShareThisBy GREG HARDWIG
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The U.S. Ryder Cup team's newest captain and his new selection system both received thumbs-up from a sampling of players at the Merrill Lynch Shootout on Wednesday.
Paul Azinger was officially announced as the 2008 captain on Monday.
"That came as a surprise. I didn't see that one coming," deadpanned Azinger's now-former colleague in the ABC booth, Nick Faldo, who happens to be the 2008 European captain.
"I think he'll be a great captain," Mark O'Meara said of Azinger. "I think he's very deserving. He's had a wonderful career. I like Paul a lot. He's had a lot of ups and downs and he's survived all of them. He's a good leader."
Europe has been up while the U.S. has been down in recent Ryder Cups. The Europeans have won five of the last six Ryder Cups, the last two by record 181/2-91/2 scores.
"The one that we won looked like we were going to lose with (Ben) Crenshaw as a captain," Fred Couples, referring to 1999's final-day charge, pointed out. "So if we hadn't won that ... we need to flip this thing around."
The new selection system includes four captain's picks instead of two, and puts more weight on events in the second year of the point process and money won. It also decreases the weight of points for money won in events opposite major championships.
According to Golf World, eight of the 12 players on the 2006 U.S. team would have qualified under the new system. Brett Wetterich (No. 11 in the new system), Scott Verplank (No. 17), J.J. Henry (No. 19) and Vaughn Taylor (No. 20) would not have, although Verplank was a captain's pick by Tom Lehman anyway.
"I really haven't taken them all in, but I think it's probably a good idea," said O'Meara, who played in Ryder Cups in 1985, 1989, 1991, 1997 and 1999, of the changes.
"The game has changed a lot. Listen, for years we tried to make it more competitive for the European team. Now, certainly the way things have turned around, they're fielding their best team and we haven't performed to the level I think we should perform at, so they should take a hard look."
Couples, who has played in five Ryder Cups, was all for putting emphasis on dollars won and how players did in the majors.
"I just think the best thing we did was to get out of this Top 10 stuff," Couples said. "That's a crazy way to pick a team."
"We shall see how it unfolds, it's as simply as that," Faldo said.
Couples, who Golf World listed as a possible captain candidate in 2010, was asked if he had thought about becoming a captain.
"I would like to be, sure," he said. "I'm not in any rush. It takes a lot of time and energy, and I think we've had great, great captains. Tom Lehman was phenomenal. He just can't go out there and play Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia, and we're getting spanked.
"They're obviously great, great players. It's just shocking to me that it's not closer."
