Mua-ha-ha-ha
Finally. We can stop playing the guessing game. American Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III revealed his four picks to complete the U.S. Team. No surprises if you read our thoughts here at WUP last night. Love announced his selection at the NASDAQ headquarters in NYC by order of height — from tallest to shortest: Dustin Johnson, Jim Furyk, Brandt Snedeker and Steve Stricker — to round off what he described as the deepest U.S. Ryder Cup team in history.
The automatic eight players who qualified in the points standings were (in order): Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson (who just narrowly edged out a very disappointed Hunter Mahan).
Some of you are probably surprised by Captain Love’s picks, but like I said, it wasn’t rocket science, if you do your best channeling DL3′s thought process. As we’ve mentioned, Stricker was always a lock and Furyk was suspected to be, too. Love confirmed several times in his press conference that those two were always going to be picked and since the PGA, the remaining candidates were vying for the final two spots.
The last one came down to choosing between Dustin Johnson and Hunter Mahan. DJ finished in the top five in the first two playoff events, while Mahan has had a rather forgettable summer since winning early twice in the season. I think we’re all feeling for him the most.
Just in case you missed it, you can read my rationale here, but a quick summary:
*Dustin Johnson — long ball, intimidating and great athlete.
*Jim Furyk — consistent, grown-up, respected and experienced.
*Brandt Snedeker — best putter on Tour this year (U.S. NEEDS strong putters), positive energy in the team room, versatile player who can be paired with anyone.
*Steve Stricker — Tiger’s partner but can also play with anyone, in DL3′s opinion the best player on Tour the past 5-6 years, great putter, respected on-and-off the golf course and in the team room.
Oh, Davis declared that Michael Jordan — basketball great and infamous gambler on the links — will be the American Team mascot and cheerleader (and probably another glorified cart driver). Love wants MJ visible and in the team room and driving around in a golf cart at Medinah, rather than hiding in the gallery, etc., like he did at Celtic Manor in Wales in 2010.
Your reaction?
(Getty Images/Neilson Barnard)
Deepest team ever….. I think the 1981 team might disagree (1player without a major)
The picks were spot on. Mahan’s putting and short game not the right fit.
Despite two wins this season (one being the world matchplay, and in impressive fashion no less), being the ‘next in line’ on the points list, and after a great Presidents Cup (sic) in 2011, no pick for Mahan is a poor call in my opinion.
He may be a little ‘cold’ in the past few tournaments, but he can be a birdie machine, and matchplay is simply a different game – one in which he has shown prowess (flubbed chip in 2010 notwithstanding). I understand the picks DL3 made, but I think Mahan should have sneaked in ahead of either Dustin Johnson or Jim Furyk.
Good for us Europeans I guess!
Olazabal didn’t leave off the European Matchplay winner (Colsaerts) and I think that’s a smart move.
All conjecture at this stage of course. I do think home advantage will be enough for the US team to prosper this time out.
Tiger/Rory anyone?
Really couldn’t go wrong with available players. Just wondering about Furyk’s psyche after the summer he has had. Should be one of the best Ryder Cups ever.
Like the Team..sorry Hunter just not good enough this time around. Tiger got his boys on the Team of course.
Not crazy about Dustin Johnson in team competition. I would have taken Bud Cauley..need super young players in the mix too.
Jordan was added for what to be the moral compass of the 2012 Team?
Completely agree about Cauley. I love the way he plays and his physique and the way he wears his shirts bring to mind a late 1950′s Palmer. I think he’ll be on quite a few Ryder Cup teams in the future.
I think Furyk will come up big for the US. The US needs a win. Bud Cauley has a great future but we need the absolute best to deal with Rory, Graeme and a new Sergio.
Hard to argue with the guys he picked, but I do have to concur with Shipnuck’s comment re: Watney vs. Stricker, and stepping back it seems that Watney does basically everything better.
My original proposal was for DL to just announce that the top 4 US guys not already qualified at the DB would get the spots. Turns out that was: DJ,Sned, Overton, and Bryce Moulder. Not as good, but imagine how stressfull that would have been !
finally, it was kind of sweet to see how nervous Davis was in making the announcement. He is obviously a very nice guy.
The ONLY thing Watney does better than Stricker is maybe hit it farther but that hasn’t translated into more wins. Irons wedges and putter Stricker laps Watney like he’s standing still!
The U.S. Captains always favor the veterans too much, probably because they are usually peers with the guys they are selecting. I don’t think Furyk and Stricker are bad picks necessarily, but they’re hardly dynamic. Adding Watney and Mahan or some other younger players makes the US far more lethal, especially in 4-ball and singles in my opinion. A lot of these guys just have a lot of negative baggage in this event after getting their asses kicked for a decade.
I also don’t get the uproar over the continued inclusion of Michael Jordan. Morfit has an article where’s up in arms, like it’s an affront to the game. It’s not like he was just named offensive coordinator of the Packers and is taking over play-calling duty. The guy is just hanging around–it didn’t seem to have any impact on the Presidents Cup team.
Half the time the media wants the Ryder Cup to be an “exhibition,” but they reserve the right to get their panties in a wad if Michael Jordan is allowed in the team room.
@Mike – I think so much of the anti-Jordan feeling (which I share) revolves around the fact that he is viewed as a bad guy. At the President’s Cup in 2009, all they talked about was how bummed out Sean Ohair (a fragile guy it seems) was after Jordan beat him on the course. And btw, even if you ok the fact that Jordan can hang in the team room, give a pep talk or whatever, to have him out playing practice rounds with the guys ? really ? Bring him in on the night before to give a speech, but after that, stay on the other side of the ropes please.
This Jordan/O’Hair thing is so blown out of proportion in my mind. I think Jordan or Fred brought it up initially, probably because they thought it was pretty funny and it exploded. In the initial press conference, O’Hair seemed pretty fine with the whole thing and even said it useful having Jordan around. They may have been PC comments, but he was hardly troubled.
O’Hair has proven over the years to give it up in tight spots. Great talent, great swing, but he doesn’t seem to have the mental game to stay near the top. Whether that’s because of his upbringing or because he’s found himself to be happier with his family, injuries, who knows? But, I don’t think Jordan is to blame. You’re giving him way too much credit. It might have been misguided, but I think he was most likely trying to get O’Hair to believe in himself.
My opinion is if it was Couples’ idea to include Jordan, and he’s pretty much universally considered the players’ favorite captain of at least the last decade, how bad could it possibly be? If it was an issue don’t you think the players could put a stop to it? Don’t you think they’d all be in Finchem’s ear saying “don’t name Fred again, he’ll bring MJ.” Golfers are notorious about bitching and I haven’t heard many complaints about Jordan.
Bad guy or not in your opinion, he carries a lot of weight, especially with other athletes. What difference does it make to your enjoyment of the event if Jordan is inside the ropes?
the best part is – none of matters
Like I said before…….no way Sneds gets left off that team!!
If guys are rattled by Jordans game they have no business playing in pressure matches.
There must not be a golf tournament featuring Rory and Tiger going on this week, just a figment of my imagination. Why would anyone take a vacation during it.
Not like you have a leaderboard with Tiger, Phil, Rory, Dustin, and Vijay all at the top over the weekend…