RATHER like that oversized tick-tocking thingymebob on an episode of Countdown, the clock continues to work its way towards the 2018 Ryder Cup.
On this weekend next year, Europe and the USA will be battering away in Paris. It’s hard to think it will be four years since the great transatlantic bandwagon rumbled into Gleneagles.
A lot has happened since then on the Ryder Cup front, of course. In the immediate aftermath of the USA’s heavy defeat, Phil Mickelson publicly savaged Tom Watson’s captaincy, a task force was formed to improve America’s fortunes in the event and the culmination of all this led to Team USA reclaiming the little gold chalice at Hazeltine in 2016.
For Paul Levy, the new president of the PGA of America, the success of 2016 was a blessed relief after the tumult of two years earlier.
“I was there [in 2014] and it was tough,” reflected Levy, who was at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian last week for a wee breather after captaining the USA in the PGA Cup.
“The culmination of the week just came out and Phil is a very strong-minded man with strong opinions. Some people say they should give credit to him because that spurred it [the US reorganising].”
The crushing awkwardness of that press conference at Gleneagles will go down in Ryder Cup legend as the decorated, cherished Watson was left squirming like a bucket of eels while Mickelson delivered a withering assessment of his leadership and the wing-and-a-prayer approach in general to the Ryder Cup. Was it something that needed to be unleashed?
“I’m not sure ‘needed’ is the right word,” conceded Levy. “But let’s face it, Phil is an emotional guy. He loves the game, he loves the Ryder Cup. He was frustrated, that’s the way I look at it.
“After that though, the players then had ownership. Not just from the standpoint of picking the captain, but everything. They were more engaged and more involved earlier than ever.
“The vice captains were all engaged and just excited. Tiger Woods was texting and communicating with Davis [Love III]. The fact the PGA was willing to give more ownership was a great sign for the players. That energised the leadership in the captain and the vice captains and that permeated down into the desire of the players. By empowering them it’s been a great thing and it will continue to be great for us.”
There had been suggestions in the build-up to Hazeltine that the presence of Woods as a vice-captain would overshadow all that the US were trying to build, but the former world No.1 revelled in his subservient role.
Woods has not had his troubles to seek since then, with further back problems and a night in a Florida jail accused of driving under the influence, but Levy is confident that there can be more optimistic twists in the Tiger tale.
“Tiger has been a vice-captain and we want to feed him through the system,” added Levy of this line of succession. “Tiger is right in the mix. He’ll be a great captain one day. I mean, he’s Tiger Woods.”
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