Phil Mickelson says he might not deserve Ryder Cup pick

[mvmac]

Mickelson has earned his way onto every team competition since '95. This year hasn't been so great and he's only got two chances left, PGA and Firestone, to earn enough points.

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/phil-mickelson-says-he-might-not-deserve-ryder-cup-pick#ixzz388UnbWoJ

Quote:

"It's been 19 years now that I've made it on my own, and I think it's a record of consistency to play that well to make the team on your own without being a pick for almost two decades," he said. "And I'd like to keep that streak going."

Mickelson won't count on being a pick. He's never had to worry about that.

"I don't know if I played well enough this year to deserve a spot," he said. "You want players that are hot, that are playing well. And I need to step and start doing that."

[Aguirre]

He's 12th in the points right now.  I don't care if he qualifies or not, Watson should pick him.  Jimmie Walker is 2nd in the standings.  I'm sure the European team is quaking in their spikes over facing Jimmie Walker four times in the Ryder Cup.

[ChrisP]

I think both he and Keegan Bradley have a very strong chance of being two of the captain's picks (assuming they don't make it on their own). If Zach Johnson makes the team on points, the chances of Tiger Woods being that third pick increases dramatically.

[Aguirre]

I think both he and Keegan Bradley have a very strong chance of being two of the captain's picks (assuming they don't make it on their own). If Zach Johnson makes the team on points, the chances of Tiger Woods being that third pick increases dramatically.

I thought they only had two picks nowadays.

EDIT--Nevermind, I see that it's three.  Was it four recently?  I can't remember.  They keep trying new things to win, but really all they need is to play better.

[MEfree]

In short, the race for Captain's Picks is pretty wide open with Mickelson a pretty good favorite to get 1 if he doesn't crack the top 9.

The current top 9 seem like they would be locks even if 1 or 2 slip outside the 9 guaranteed spots.  Assuming the top 9 stay the same, that leaves 3 Captains picks up for debate.  Leading candidates based on OWGR would seem to be:

#9  Woods

#13 Mickelson

#20 Stricker

#23 Bradley

#29 Webb Simpson

#30 Patrick Reed

#35 Snedeker

#36 Haas

#37 Na

#39 Moore

Todd and Kirk, at #12 & 13 on the RC point list currently, also deserve consideration as they have seen their OWGR improve from 186 & 60 to 41 & 43.

Given that everyone on the above lists rank has dropped this year except Reed and Na, I think Phil will get a captains pick unless he looks completely out of sorts between now and the end of the PGA.  Moore, Kirk and Bradley were the only Americans outside the top 9 that finished ahead of Mickelson at the Open.

I think Woods gets a Captain's Pick if he has a Top 10 by the end of the PGA or gets 2 Top 25s.

I think Stricker gets strong consideration for a Captains Pick as he hasn't missed a cut this season and hasn't finished worse than t35.  Of course, skipping the Open with the RC in Scotland doesn't show that he is fully committed.

With his last 3 finishes all in the top 12, Ryan Moore seems to be finding his game at the right time to get some strong consideration if he keeps up his good play.

[9iron]

I am the biggest Phil fan out there, but if he does not finish in the top 12 I would not pick him nor would I want Watson to pick him. If you really want it bad enough then qualify for it, don't ask the coach to pick you. Phil is being a man about this, and that is to be totally 100% respected.

[ChrisP]

In short, the race for Captain's Picks is pretty wide open with Mickelson a pretty good favorite to get 1 if he doesn't crack the top 9.

The current top 9 seem like they would be locks even if 1 or 2 slip outside the 9 guaranteed spots.  Assuming the top 9 stay the same, that leaves 3 Captains picks up for debate.  Leading candidates based on OWGR would seem to be:

#9  Woods

#13 Mickelson

#20 Stricker

#23 Bradley

#29 Webb Simpson

#30 Patrick Reed

#35 Snedeker

#36 Haas

#37 Na

#39 Moore

Todd and Kirk, at #12 & 13 on the RC point list currently, also deserve consideration as they have seen their OWGR improve from 186 & 60 to 41 & 43.

Given that everyone on the above lists rank has dropped this year except Reed and Na, I think Phil will get a captains pick unless he looks completely out of sorts between now and the end of the PGA.  Moore, Kirk and Bradley were the only Americans outside the top 9 that finished ahead of Mickelson at the Open.

I think Woods gets a Captain's Pick if he has a Top 10 by the end of the PGA or gets 2 Top 25s.

I think Stricker gets strong consideration for a Captains Pick as he hasn't missed a cut this season and hasn't finished worse than t35.  Of course, skipping the Open with the RC in Scotland doesn't show that he is fully committed.

With his last 3 finishes all in the top 12, Ryan Moore seems to be finding his game at the right time to get some strong consideration if he keeps up his good play.

I think Keegan has a good shot at being a Captain's pick. He has two top-5s in his last 5 starts and had a strong weekend at the British for a top-20 finish. Plus he is a great team player...he and Phil had a lot of success together at Medinah 2 years ago.

But no really sticks out to me. Kirk and Todd's inexperience hurts them. Mahan is having a really hard time. Stricker and Reed have not impressed the last few months despite a good finish here or there. Snedeker and Simpson are having really underachieving years. Phil and Keegan are at least showing some signs of late of good form.

[DwightC]

Phil made a classy comment taking that position.  I can think of a few other guys on Tour who might take a page from his book (see the Bubba thread, etc.).

[MEfree]

I think Keegan has a good shot at being a Captain's pick. He has two top-5s in his last 5 starts and had a strong weekend at the British for a top-20 finish. Plus he is a great team player...he and Phil had a lot of success together at Medinah 2 years ago.

But no really sticks out to me. Kirk and Todd's inexperience hurts them. Mahan is having a really hard time. Stricker and Reed have not impressed the last few months despite a good finish here or there. Snedeker and Simpson are having really underachieving years. Phil and Keegan are at least showing some signs of late of good form.

I mostly agree which is why I think that a lot of it will come down to how these everyone plays between now and when Watson announces his picks.

I am the biggest Phil fan out there, but if he does not finish in the top 12 I would not pick him nor would I want Watson to pick him. If you really want it bad enough then qualify for it, don't ask the coach to pick you. Phil is being a man about this, and that is to be totally 100% respected.

But the Captain has to pick 3 guys who don't qualify so why not Phil if he is one of the 3 highest ranked players on the OWGR outside the top 9 who qualify?  While I have expressed some issues with the OWGR in the past, it does a better job allocating points based on strength of field than does the USA Ryder Cup point list.

Right now, Patrick Reed is #10 & Phil #11.  Suppose they finish 12 & 13.  Reed has never made a cut at the Open and only made 1 cut at a major (t35 at the US Open).  I am not sure, but it is possible that Reed has never made a cut in Europe while Phil won twice there last year and had a decent showing this year.  Reed has missed 7 cuts this year (including 6 of his last 10) while Phil has only missed 3.

The whole point of the 3 Captain's picks is to allow the Captain to pick the best team possible- if Watson feels Phil is one of the 12 who make up that team, he should pick him even if Phil is #13 on the list.

[tmac20]

Looking at the bums who are outside the top 10, it would shock me if Watson didn't pick Woods and Mickelson.

[MEfree]

Looking at the bums who are outside the top 10, it would shock me if Watson didn't pick Woods and Mickelson.

Bums is a strong word, but obviously Mickeson and Woods have a lot longer resumes.  While I think both will get picked if they show some form, Woods is more in danger of being left out if he doesn't post at least 1 decent finish.  Given that neither has a great Ryder Cup record, I am not against giving a younger player a chance, but they must show they are in top form to get a Captain's pick.  Still some golf to be played...

[Hoganwoods]

I think Keegan and Mickelson are locks as long as they don't start playing like complete garbage.  If Tiger doesn't improve by the deadline he might not get picked.  Zach is on the bubble and you gotta believe he'll get picked if he falls out.  The Euros look really strong this year too.  Should be a good one.

[Golfingdad]

Phil made a classy comment taking that position.  I can think of a few other guys on Tour who might take a page from his book (see the Bubba thread, etc.).

I don't know about that.  The vibe I get from people around here (TST), thread after thread, is that "calculated" is probably the better word.  Is it really better for somebody to always say what he knows people want to hear than it is for somebody to always be honest?

Certainly it's possible that Phil is also just being honest AND calculated, and it's also possible that Bubba isn't always honest - although it would be odd to go out of your way to say precisely what you know people DON'T want to hear if it's not the truth - but my hunch that is not the case.

Reed has never made a cut at the Open and only made 1 cut at a major (t35 at the US Open).

Bein' just a tad hyperbolic there, eh @MEfree ??   He's never (ever, ever, ever????) made the cut in the Open Championship????  Wow, that is hard to imagine, ... considering his Open "career" started, hmmmm ... 6 days ago.

[Aguirre]

Unless Tiger does something like T54 at Firestone and MC at the PGA, I'm picking him, too.  I'm not letting the two best golfers of this generation sit at home and take fat Reed and part-time Stricker overseas.

[Vinsk]

Patrick Reed? Reed? No business being there. Sure he won a couple of matches back to back. Now afterwards had he continued to have top 10 finishes....good pick. But he hadn't just played inconsistent...he hasn't made cuts. Since his top 5 claim he's played in what 5 tournaments and he's made 1 cut? Dump him.

[acerimusdux]

Phil is a no-brainer. Tiger is a little more uncertain. Tiger seems to be healthy, and has probably just been a little rusty, but you'd still like to see a little more to be sure. If things get worse rather than better in the coming weeks, you might have to leave him off.

After that, the strongest candidates for me are Patrick Reed, Keegan Bradley, and Web Simpson. I actually think Simpson would be the best choice of those at the moment, but the argument for Keegan seems to be that the Phil+Keegan team was a little more successful last time around than the Watson+Simpson team.

In any case, Simpson has 37 career top 10 finishes, including 7 this season, one of those a T9 in the Match Play championship, and is in the top 10 in strokes gained putting on tour this year, .

I think it will probably end up Tiger, Phil, and Keegan, but Webb Simpson to me seems like the toughest cut there.

[Vinsk]

Again, Keegan, Phil, Simpson...yeah they've had some poor rounds....but Reed? He's missed cuts. Not top 50.... Not good rounds but in a deep field....he's missed cuts. Period. Reed is a flop. Let em go.

[9iron]

I mostly agree which is why I think that a lot of it will come down to how these everyone plays between now and when Watson announces his picks.

But the Captain has to pick 3 guys who don't qualify so why not Phil if he is one of the 3 highest ranked players on the OWGR outside the top 9 who qualify?  While I have expressed some issues with the OWGR in the past, it does a better job allocating points based on strength of field than does the USA Ryder Cup point list.

Right now, Patrick Reed is #10 & Phil #11.  Suppose they finish 12 & 13.  Reed has never made a cut at the Open and only made 1 cut at a major (t35 at the US Open).  I am not sure, but it is possible that Reed has never made a cut in Europe while Phil won twice there last year and had a decent showing this year.  Reed has missed 7 cuts this year (including 6 of his last 10) while Phil has only missed 3.

The whole point of the 3 Captain's picks is to allow the Captain to pick the best team possible- if Watson feels Phil is one of the 12 who make up that team, he should pick him even if Phil is #13 on the list.

I understand why the Captain has the picks to begin with, and I hear what you are saying as well. Plus, I'm about as big a Phil fan as there can be. Having said all of this, what we have been doing in Ryder Cup hasn't been working, and neither would I expect the same old-same old to work this time. Taking whomever ends up in positions 10 thru 12 may not work any better, but it would send a clear message that you need to earn it and maybe that would serve us well down the road.