Ryder Cup Question #6: Was Faldo a Bad Captain?

If you lived in Europe, you may well believe that Nick Faldo is officially worse than Hitler after being the losing Ryder Cup captain on Sunday.  From guys like Lawrence Donnegan and John Huggan, you would hear about how Faldo was outsmarted and outplanned at every turn.  You'd hear how he had such fantastic resources available to him - on his team and in Clarke and Montgomerie, who were not selected. 

But, if you read John Garrity's piece on golf.com about Faldo's efforts as Captain, you may well sympathize with Faldo.  Garrity scours over the performance of Faldo as Captain and simply cannot find a legitimate soure for all of the lamentation in the European press.  In fact, he finds direct statements from players that directly contradict what the EXTREMELY biased European press has to say about Faldo's performance.

Let's play Point-Counterpoint.  (Jane, you ignorant slut.)

We'll be playing with John Huggan's piece today in the Guardian and the aforementioned Garrity piece on golf.com.

First, Huggan:

Where Faldo had only one vice-captain in José María Olazábal, a couple of caddies and a callow German tour pro Martin Kaymer acting as his extra eyes and ears during practice and play, Azinger was able to call on the vast experience of past skippers and major champions, Ray Floyd and Dave Stockton, as well as his close friend, the longtime PGA Tour player Olin Browne. In terms of tactical and strategic input, that is a bit like a pub team taking on Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Now Garrity:

At the beginning of the week he assembled his team on the 1st tee for a visualization exercise designed to overcome first-drive jitters. He then sent them out to practice as threesomes instead of the usual foursomes, saying "when you're doing a lot of chipping or putting around the green, four is a crowd." In another innovative move Faldo invited several potential Ryder Cuppers to follow him around, including two-time European tour winner Martin Kaymer. "You can't guess what this week is about, even in your wildest dreams," Faldo explained. "So this was one of my ideas, to bring some players along and for them to feel it."

Back to Huggan for the dig:

Azinger also got the Valhalla course right. Knowing his side hardly represented the straightest-hitting group ever to wear the stars and stripes, he ordered the rough to be both cut back and shortened, allowing typically long but wayward blasters, such as JB Holmes, Anthony Kim, Kenny Perry and Phil Mickelson, to swing away with something like impunity. Clearly missing the point, Faldo at one stage had his three biggest drivers - Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson - looking on during one series of fourball play.

Then, quotes in Garrity's piece - from the players - about Faldo's strategy:

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell seemed to buy Faldo's act. "I think he's very calm, cool and calculated," said the Ryder Cup rookie, who sank a passel of clutch putts and scored 2 1/2 points for the losers.

Karlsson then blistered the previously formidable Justin Leonard on Sunday by the score of 5 and 3. Afterward, Karlsson threw a bouquet to Faldo, saying, "At the end of the day, it's very easy to criticize, but he's been an excellent captain."

"We hold the golf clubs, and we hit the shots," said Westwood, who pointed out that the foursomes session he and Garcia had missed was the only one that Europe won. "So Nick was right to do that."

Huggan on singles' Sunday:

[Azinger] sent his men out in a singles order that made much sense given the two-point lead with which they entered the third and last day of competition. Broken down into groups of four, the former PGA champion and his knowledgeable brains trust led off with their most attacking individuals, followed up with a quartet of crowd-pleasing "Good ol' Boys" from the south and rounded things off with "steady eddies" at the back.

Yet again the contrast with what passed for Faldo's tactics was more than marked. Despite knowing he needed to make up ground early, the six-times major champion placed four of his best players in slots nine through 12. As things turned out - and were always likely to - the overall result was decided while all four were still on the course. As misjudgments go, it wasn't quite Captain Scott deciding to press on to the south pole rather than turning back but it was close.

From Sergio Garcia, in Garrity's story, about Faldo's efforts:

Garcia, not known for being a gracious loser, put it even more bluntly: "If I would have played better and won my match, maybe we would be talking and writing a different story. It had nothing to do with Nick."

And this is a perfect demonstration of why you read the American press and not the British, but watch the BBC and not the US networks.