![\"Thrash](\"\/b\/imgs\/thrash_talk\/tt_title.gif\")
Something has to change. Heck, if nothing changes the Ryder Cup might not even be worth watching anymore because the U.S. is not competitive. The U.S. has now lost eight of the last ten. That is a whooping of biblical proportions.<\/p>\nSomething has to change. Heck, if nothing changes the Ryder Cup might not even be worth watching anymore because the U.S. is not competitive. The U.S. has now lost eight of the last ten. That is a whooping of biblical proportions.<\/p>\n
As you know by now Phil Mickelson has outlined what he thinks we should do to stem the tide. There are arguments that the timing of Phil’s message was bad, but to that I say hogwash. The American side needs to face up to the challenge. It must accept that it has change its ways in order to start winning. We can no longer show up with an honorary captain who is there because he was a great golfer in his day. We need to think about changing everything.<\/p>\n
I have a plan for the U.S. team. I want to make big changes.
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\nFirst, I propose we hire a Ryder Cup Commissioner. Stop this honorary captain nonsense. Just because you were a pretty good golfer who once won a PGA Championship doesn’t mean you get to be a captain some day. It can certainly be a résumé booster, but it should not be the only requirement for the job as it is now. I want someone who will keep the job for more than the year that the current captain gets and will keep the job until they quit or they are fired just like a normal CEO or Commissioner.<\/p>\n
Second, this Commissioner will pick<\/strong> the twelve men that will be on his team. No points system where guys like Bubba Watson who was playing extremely well in April makes the team at a time when he is struggling with his game. Yes, you heard me right: twelve captain’s (or commissioner’s) picks that will be made one week before the event. Now the hottest guys get to play in the event. Guys like Bubba are replaced with guys like Billy Horschel. Players who are playing their best. The points list can still exist. It can be a guide for the commissioner to help make his decision but he is not bound by this list as the captain is now. The biggest benefit of this strategy is that commissioners can target guys who are not only hot, but are good match play golfers. Some golfers are not very good match play players, other such as Ryan Moore do not have great individual records but perform well in match play events.<\/p>\n Putting a person like a CEO who can run the team is closer to how most sports teams are set up. Many of the coaches in the NFL are not former players. Some are, and those who have may have a slight advantage over those that did not, but it is not a prerequisite. The coach stays with the team and finds who he can rely on, study who pairs well together and can operate without the restriction that this will be their only year doing this. Finding a great partner for Tiger only happened with certain guys, this may mean that guys who are on the fringe are picked because they pair well with the best player on the planet.<\/p>\n Lastly if the PGA wanted they could still name a non-playing history figure like Tom Watson to be an honorary captain who could offer advice but not be ultimately responsible for the decisions. This could still keep with the tradition of honoring the great Ryder Cup golfers, but not make guys who are not natural leaders lead our team onto the course. Maybe this honorary captain could pick the outfits for the week?<\/p>\n So who would make for a great Ryder Cup Commissioner? It must be someone strong who is close to the game, strong, and knows how to win. This is a key selection because this person will have this job for at least four years to make sure that there is continuity into the next session. I nominate Chris DiMarco. Yes, he was probably on a short list to be the captain in 2016 but I vote to give him the nomination for the first American Ryder Cup Commissioner. Chris knows the players and has the skills politically to be in a commissioner role. This is an outstanding fit. We can even name Ray Floyd as the honorary captain.<\/p>\n I know what you are saying. The Europeans don’t need a commissioner and they are winning. True, but they are doing more than winning, they are dominating. They are more passionate about the Ryder Cup for whatever reason. They seem to have a system that is more organized than ours and they seem to do a better job breeding captains than we do. I fully expect to see Darren Clarke as the European captain and he will be extremely tough as a captain. Even though the matches are at home (in the U.S.) I fear we are already one down because of Darren Clarke. I think the Europeans will be very happy to let us leave everything just as it is, because they are killing us. In their eyes, the fewer changes we make, the better. Let’s give them some shock and awe.<\/p>\n Something must be done. 2012 was gut wrenching to watch. Losing the lead was a terrible feeling. This year was over after Saturday’s four ball. Yes, the American’s starting making a run early, but the back nine was owned by the Europeans in singles and then ended up winning handily. These have been painful to watch. We need to make a change and a CEO adds accountability as it does to all well run companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once again the U.S. was beat in the Ryder Cup. I outline some changes that we can make to turn the tide and start winning this event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[98,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hot_topics","category-thrash_talk"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Chris](\"\/b\/imgs\/pga\/chris_dimarco_2004_ryder_cup.jpg\")
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