Change Ryder Cup qualification process

[FarawayFairways]

My suggestion is have the captain pick them all.....

I think there is quite a lot of merit to this very simple solution, and suspect Ghalfaire was driving in that direction too. Why not have a selection committee?

Most sports choose their teams. With the possible exception of track and field Olympic teams, most sports don't have qualification systems. In any event, since the rankings are essentially an expression of money earnt, players aren't going to walk out on the tour if they can't qualify for the Ryder Cup on the back of it. I'd have said it also goes without saying that the rankings (even if you abandon them as the arbitrator) are still going to frame 80% of your picks so they're hardly obsolete. What having selection would allow you to do is make last minute changes and select horses for courses. How keen would you be to take Bubba Watson to a European match for instance?

I'm also puzzled by this idea that you have to give players a months notice of their selection "so that families can prepare". Why?. Well I guess if you want your WAG's to look beautiful then so be it. Personally I'd prefer to have the strongest team available to me, and if that means waiting 3 weeks longer, then so be it. At the end of the day there are millions of people who work away from home for extended periods, many have to move at short notice, and few can afford private jets, stay in 5 star luxury, and get shuttled around everywhere they so much as express an interest in seeing

How many people had Kirk, Horschel and possibly Palmer drafted on September 1st? How many people had them in their team 3 weeks later? It's a no brainer

Someone asked before the event who i thought would win, and it was relatively simple. Europe I said were close to having the best team available to them (Gallacher and Bjorn) America said had half their players missing from the best possible 12. Some of this is bad luck and for different reasons, but it doesn't help

If you're looking for a sporting team to emulate Ghalfaire, I'd suggest the Australian cricket team. When you see how intensely they prepare and battle, and the level of mental toughness they bring to the game it would most certainly have implications for golf. It is after all a team game characterised by players playing in paired partnerships. The Aussies are pretty unsentimental and brutal in their conclusions. On a few showings now I have little doubt they'd dump a few American golfers as simply not being up to it, and suspect that some of the names they'd identify would have you gulping. They're hard people. And they're also the most successful team in the sport.

[ghalfaire]

I think there is quite a lot of merit to this very simple solution, and suspect Ghalfaire was driving in that direction too. Why not have a selection committee?

Most sports choose their teams. With the possible exception of track and field Olympic teams, most sports don't have qualification systems. In any event, since the rankings are essentially an expression of money earnt, players aren't going to walk out on the tour if they can't qualify for the Ryder Cup on the back of it. I'd have said it also goes without saying that the rankings (even if you abandon them as the arbitrator) are still going to frame 80% of your picks so they're hardly obsolete. What having selection would allow you to do is make last minute changes and select horses for courses. How keen would you be to take Bubba Watson to a European match for instance?

I'm also puzzled by this idea that you have to give players a months notice of their selection "so that families can prepare". Why?. Well I guess if you want your WAG's to look beautiful then so be it. Personally I'd prefer to have the strongest team available to me, and if that means waiting 3 weeks longer, then so be it. At the end of the day there are millions of people who work away from home for extended periods, many have to move at short notice, and few can afford private jets, stay in 5 star luxury, and get shuttled around everywhere they so much as express an interest in seeing

How many people had Kirk, Horschel and possibly Palmer drafted on September 1st? How many people had them in their team 3 weeks later? It's a no brainer

Someone asked before the event who i thought would win, and it was relatively simple. Europe I said were close to having the best team available to them (Gallacher and Bjorn) America said had half their players missing from the best possible 12. Some of this is bad luck and for different reasons, but it doesn't help

If you're looking for a sporting team to emulate Ghalfaire, I'd suggest the Australian cricket team. When you see how intensely they prepare and battle, and the level of mental toughness they bring to the game it would most certainly have implications for golf. It is after all a team game characterised by players playing in paired partnerships. The Aussies are pretty unsentimental and brutal in their conclusions. On a few showings now I have little doubt they'd dump a few American golfers as simply not being up to it, and suspect that some of the names they'd identify would have you gulping. They're hard people. And they're also the most successful team in the sport.

That is my thoughts.  In any TEAM sport, normally not golf but the Ryder Cup is a TEAM event, the coach needs to be able to form the team to fit the coach's approach to playing the game.  That means the coach has to be able to select players that he feels will support his approach and will meld into a team.  The selection criteria will, of course, include the ability to play golf at a high level.  It could also include less tangible criteria too, maybe just a simple as who enjoys playing with who. But I would leave it up to the captain to select the team.  I have not given this enough thought to be very specific but would like to see the selection of the captain include a criterion of "management skills" and would like to see this captain have a lot of latitude in selecting the team.  Say select the team out of the top 30 players as an example.

I don't like losing to Europe.  While I recognize some days are just not your day, but when you consistently get your butt kicked the day isn't the problem and Europe's players are not any better than the USA's players.  So we should be batting at least 500 and we're way off that mark.

[FarawayFairways]

I'd be curious to know how much notice Pat Reed needed to accept an invitation to play in the Volvo (so called) World Match Play. I'm guessing his invitation was issued post Gleneagles? and since he confirmed participation a week ago, he seems to be demonstating that if the will is there, a player can move within a matter of days to represent. Basically it gives the lie to the idea that the families need a month to prepare (something that always sounded like an unconvincing 'party line').

In fairness to Reed his participation has earned him a fair amount of positive publicity here for being the only American player seemingly prepared to back up by deed his expressed desire to win the Ryder Cup, as his attributable quotes have linked the two events. The VWM is hardly the draw it might have been in the 1970's but it's increasingly used by second tier Ryder Cup players and aspiring players for the next team to start to build their case. This year we have Lowry, Blixt, Molinari, Larrazabal and of course, SUPER JOOST starting to lay out their store in competition against the likes of Gallacher, McDowell, Stenson, Donaldson and Dubuisson. So credit to Patrick Reed for taking up the challenge and daring to enter the European den and trade toe to toe, it'll all help stand him in good stead 2 years on

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/29618825

[iacas]

Basically it gives the lie to the idea that the families need a month to prepare (something that always sounded like an unconvincing 'party line').

In the Ryder Cup, there's more than just arranging travel for a husband and a wife.

Clothing sizes, for example.

[FarawayFairways]

In the Ryder Cup, there's more than just arranging travel for a husband and a wife.

Clothing sizes, for example.

I can only pity the country that can put a man on the moon if it takes them a month to run up a set of clothes in assoication with a clothing giant like Ralph Lauren. If that's the best explanation you can offer, then its weak. Hell, you can deploy the entire bloody 82nd airborne to Iraq in a shorter time span!

[Web Junky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iacas

In the Ryder Cup, there's more than just arranging travel for a husband and a wife.

Clothing sizes, for example.

I can only pity the country that can put a man on the moon if it takes them a month to run up a set of clothes in assoication with a clothing giant like Ralph Lauren. If that's the best explanation you can offer, then its weak. Hell, you can deploy the entire bloody 82nd airborne to Iraq in a shorter time span!

Save the pity, bro. The moon landings were a hoax.

[Gunther]

In addition to Captain's picks there needs to be 1 Captain's DQ.  That is . .the captain can disqualify one player who made it on points if he wants to. From here on known as "The Bubba Clause".

I'm in favor of The Bubba Clause. Also a good name for a redneck Christmas movie.

[iacas]

I can only pity the country that can put a man on the moon if it takes them a month to run up a set of clothes in assoication with a clothing giant like Ralph Lauren. If that's the best explanation you can offer, then its weak. Hell, you can deploy the entire bloody 82nd airborne to Iraq in a shorter time span!

Well, they need to make the bags, too…

A week is not enough time for everything to be set. Plus, sorry for stating the obvious, but Europe still wins and chooses their players more than a week out…

[FarawayFairways]

OK you're just having a laugh now aren't you, so I'm not going to take you seriously, and will make this the last reply to you

If you think clothing and bags are more important than selecting you're strongest team, then frankly, you get the results you deserve. The idea that Europe wins on the same time frame is really a function of the fact that someone has to. Since it's America losing, it's beholden on them to do something to alter that and I doubt very much that any of you would have selected the same team at the start of September as you would have done after the Fed Ex? By definition therefore, you've fielded a weaker team than that which you could have done

I wish from a European perspective though that they could co-opt you onto this task force!

If America has the resources to move tens of thousands of people around the world complete with heaven knows how much military hardware inside 3 weeks, the PGA can contract someone to make three or four sets of clothing and golf bags (since three quarters of them team would pretty well be in place by early September). Having said that, with 2 years to prepare, Corey Pavin did manage to equip a whole team with waterproofs that leaked and had to buy up stock from the Celtic Manor Pro Shop so perhaps you're right! The again, Pavin's team came pretty close to winning at one point, so perhaps that's the answer

What ever happened to this legendry American 'can do, will do' culture. Are you seriosuly suggesting that the US is prevented from selecting it's best team because they can't decorate three or four golf bags inside a week? (stitch someones name on it) or that they need to dress the WAG's up to look pretty standing alongside their defeated husbands? You keep labouring this 5%, do you not think under your own analysis that selecting an in-form Billy Horschel and Chris Kirk instead of Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson (something most commentators would have done a few weeks later) gives you that 5%? Had you done that, you might very well be holding the cup right now. Tantalising isn't it?

Well whatever. If you prioritise golf bags and designer clothing then so be it. I'll promise you one thing though, winning the Ryder Cup gives me a warmer feeling then anything Ralph Lauren could dress our players in, and since I'm never likely to have any contact with a golfers trophy wife, I really don't care what they look like so long as we win. I've read some interesting excuses over the last month or so, but the idea that it all comes down to sweaters and golf bags is one of the more ambitious.

[iacas]

OK you're just having a laugh now aren't you, so I'm not going to take you seriously, and will make this the last reply to you

If you think clothing and bags are more important than selecting you're strongest team, then frankly, you get the results you deserve. The idea that Europe wins on the same time frame is really a function of the fact that someone has to.

Oh brother.

Look, there's absolutely no denying that there's a logistical element that is at play. Players can't be told "you're playing in five days" and expect to be prepared, nor can some of the other stuff - clothing, bags, etc. - as stupid as it sounds - be ready either.

And Europe only wins now because "someone has to"? C'mon. Choosing a team a week ahead of time is dumb. I think a month or more is too long, but a week is too short. The happy ground is in the middle, somewhere, IMO. Three weeks, perhaps.

[Spitfisher]

I can only pity the country that can put a man on the moon if it takes them a month to run up a set of clothes in assoication with a clothing giant like Ralph Lauren. If that's the best explanation you can offer, then its weak. Hell, you can deploy the entire bloody 82nd airborne to Iraq in a shorter time span!

any of the major manufactures, including RL can get complete size runs of finished product bags to hats to uniforms in no time  ( no time being  a week to 10 days) I've seen it done.

We watch the playersand their daily or weather related uniforms, but if you watch the open ceremonies, the players wives and girlfriends also were wearing  the same outfits.

be that as it may it still would not be a problem, no matter how fussy the women are.