Ryder Cup Dominance

Europe has won 8 of last 10 Cups and excluding Rory, the talent level is still much deeper in America when you consider Woods was hurt, Duffner (injury), Dustin J (drugs) Kirk and Horshel were not picked.

Phil answered a question out of frustration that may be correct in using a different format to allow these individual Americans to earn trust in groups of golfers or the Pod system Azinger used.

One tweet that made me laugh during the week was this one:
How do the players feel about Capt. Watson? One team member just texted me: "Although he's rarely right, he's never in doubt!

I didn't like the selections of Watson or his strategy, but this was not close enough to blame the captain for his views of what was happening.

So why do the USA players lose?

I will start at the top and the word is character toward others in golf.
 I do not blame the captains for this failure. I blame the chemistry that has arisen since a certain rivalry showed up.
Woods and Phil:

When Woods went on his incredible run, the media and everyone around golf accepted the outlandish character flaws he displayed on and around the course. He is well known for thinking he was above the rules.
Phil, started better with his career, but ended up alienating people during a time in his career also. But, I will give Phil credit for building the new relationships he has with these young players and providing support that they often talk about in interviews.
Furyk  is the third best player from this generation and he is the symbol of what I would term a single minded personality and just doesn't exactly exude support for others.

Our big three Ryder cup veterans are not good and two of them are not exactly personalities.
 Furyk   10-20-4  34 Matches
 Phil      16-19-7  41 Matches.
Woods  13-18-2  33 Matches.

I think this all goes back to the fact that golfers in America have become too much of individual commodities.  They lack the ability to lean on others in stressful situations.  The Euro's, love them or hate them, all talk and seem to spend more time as a group growing up on tour. (I expect this to change during the next 5 years with mass movement to the US of European players.)

Can a captain like Azinger and even Couples with his Presidents cup domination make people feel comfortable and build momentum strictly on personality maybe sometimes..  But, in my mind I think it is failure due to the additional stresses being felt because the Americans are not accustomed to depending on others when playing golf.

Bubba Golf was 0-3 and Rickie Fowler still hasn't won a point, how does that happen?  This is strictly a mental loss at some point, the Euros get better and the Americans tighten up when the chanting starts..  Fix the mental side and don't bench your winning youngsters like Watson and anything can happen.

Nothing will be fixed until a group comes through that can overcome this me first attitude.

J.

PS.
Funny, I was just surfing the net and Chamblee is blaming Phil and Tiger for failures because of selfishness...
He literally said that Phil and Tiger goof off at Ryder Cup.  He said when Sutton teamed them together they should have steamrolled everyone.

I like it.

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I read the British papers.
We have heard this before. But while they “learn”, the memory swarms with images of what Europe’s Ryder Cup team teaches us about sport in the age of multi‑millionaires. It remains possible for a generation of players to identify a cause and pursue it unflinchingly, as one, spreading joy along the way. The contest is its own reward. America’s golfers have lost sight of that.