While the appointment of new European Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjorn has been widely welcomed, spare a thought for those players who don’t get the nod to be captain.
In the past week Miguel Angel Jiminez has spoken to the Spanish media about the reason he was given for his non-selection to be captain for the 2016 team.
Jiminez, who was vice captain in 1997 and 2014, was told by European tour bosses that “he had to perfect his English if he was to be selected as captain”. Jiminez blasted “that excuse was a little bit banana republic – with all due respect to bananas which are very tasty. We have interpreters on tour for a reason, not that I have ever needed one.” He said that he had been quite unhappy about this and had exchanged words with Ryder Cup Director Richard Hills and former European Tour Chief Executive George O’Grady.
Now the Ryder Cup is at last returning to continental Europe to embrace the wider contribution of the European countries to the tour, surely the players should be allowed to use their own languages if they wish, it is to the European team’s advantage. Seve and Olazabal conversed in Spanish when they played their matches together, a natural thing to do. It is not gamesmanship as Paul Azinger said it was, to conceal their thoughts and tactics in their own language, it was just them speaking naturally to each other. This is the Ryder Cup, do the teams always meet each other half way? In 18 months will the Americans put up a French speaking captain for the matches in France? Very unlikely indeed.
The European Tour is a huge melting pot of languages and cultures, let it be represented as it really is, without insisting that it be watered down to make it more palatable and understandable for the Americans. It’s to the Europeans great advantage to be the way it is.
Last week I said to myself “steady on” because I found myself agreeing with one of Mickelson’s moans. He complained that the course at East Lake where the Tour Championship was being played was not set up as proper preparation for this week’s Ryder Cup.
Such agreement only lasted a week, because here we are again, another attention seeking tirade this week, this time about 2004 US Ryder Cup Captain Hal Sutton, see the conference below.
Talking about how his own pairing with Tiger Woods was a “monumental fail”did not go down well. Although his explanation of how the pairing affected him as a player was interesting. He didnt focus on the fact that they dint get on, he put it in terms thta they play different ball compressions, Tiger with a high spin, he with a low spin, and to play foursomes he had to take a couple of days out of his own preparations in order to learn how to play this ball and try and make this work. Any top level player would have been annoyed by that but Mickelson’s anoyance wasnt dealt with at the time by trying to oersuade the captain to change the pairing, i stead it was stored up to use as an example of how not to captain and spoken to the press 12 years on.
This afternoon Sutton responded to this while playing in the Captain’s Challenge. He said famously
“I just felt like the world of golf would be a better place if Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson got on and became friends”.
Former captain Curtis Strange said he had wanted to put them together, but only Hal had the guts to actually do it”. Sutton said “D’you think I had anything to do with how poorly he played? He let the whole side down”
Bizarrely, Mickelson back tracked today and issued an apology, this is most unusual. “I am so so sorry I feel awful” he said “It was just meant to be an example of how a captain can have a strong effect on a team. Unfortunately it came across the way it did, I was totally in the wrong, I never should have done that because it affected Hal”. I made him feel awkward.I never should have used him as a soecific example I put him totally on the spot. I never should have done that I put him in an awkward situation.
He then rattled off the names of several past captains – Corey Pavin, Tom Lehman, Lanny Wadkins and said the team were creating a family feel – notably he didnt mention Tom Watson, a past captain he was also very forthright in his criticism of. See this 2014 criticism:
He ended with I created negativity and Im so so sorry.
Sounds like there was team pressure on him to apologise which there wouldnt have been any other week. It’s got him the attention, positive or negative, and the bit of drama that he thrives on.
What a captain he’s going to make. Let’s hope it will be soon, what larks it will be.
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