First Ryder Cup Question: Was Faldo Really That Bad?

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Paul Hayward of the Daily Mail lays into "Captain Calamity" while AP's Robert Milwood compiles the other not-so-flattering morning headlines.

Nick Faldo, not the crowd, was America’s 13th Man, sending an aircraft carrier to a conflict that was already over.
Hindsight is the media’s favourite language, but there is no escaping the gruesome fact that, when the Americans broke Europe’s Ryder Cup dominance here last night Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and the dual Open champion Padraig Harrington, were all stranded on the Valhalla course.
And...
Emotionally overcome by Muhammad Ali’s visit, and the tension of a draining week, the captain’s gaucheness in press conferences and at the opening ceremony were minor foibles compared to yesterday’s aberration.
Maybe the warning came when Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia were rested in Saturday morning’s foursomes. The abiding point is that Europe squandered their man-for-man advantage over an inferior American dozen. To have the better team and lose is the mark of all managerial fowl-ups.
Okay folks, was he that bad?

Poulter played brilliant golf and justified his selection.

Oliver Wilson came through Saturday morning when stars were benched.

Padraig, Garcia and Westwood weren't even close to resembling themselves.

A few putts here and there and Europe wins. Oh and Faldo, made up for the opening ceremonies speech with an excellent presentation at the closing ceremonies.

And just think, by losing this time the Ryder Cup has been restored to its place as golf's most thrilling and anticipated event.

Thoughts?

Monday Ryder Cup Clippings

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On GolfDigest.com's Ryder Cup Rumblings you can find my final installment of the daily clippings analysis, or you can access it directly here.

There's also an archive of all posts for the week.

I'm also really enjoying your comments. Great stuff, keep it coming. I'm especially happy to see how many people equated the reasonable setup with the quality of the golf we saw. Oddly, there have not been articles about that yet, and I've been looking!


Saturday Ryder Cup Clippings

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It's going to be tough to top Friday for drama, shotmaking, strategic second-guessing,  incredible atmosphere, and media coverage to match, so soak up Saturday mornings clippings and if you missed anything, here's the entire Ryder Cup Rumblings archive to date.

Make sure to check in during the day at GolfDigest.com as I'm posting all weekend.


Red Numbers Can Be The Game's Friend!

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Over at GolfDigest.com I posted about some of the nuances we're seeing today that have bred some downright thrilling Ryder Cup golf.  It's so simple really. A little room off the tee, hole locations not buried in places to prevent birdies, green speeds within reason and an overall philosophy of allowing for aggressive play.

The question I ask, as always: why can't we do this all the time in golf?

Is protecting par really that sacred?

Is everyone able to watch day one enjoying it as much as I am?

"Unashamedly, we have to be commercial when we allocate the event"

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I posted this as the last item on the GolfDigest.com clippings post along with a few more new items, and while the matches are proving quite compelling so far, I'd hate to see this item get forgotten. Paul Kelso writes:

George O'Grady, chief executive of the European Tour, is proud of the commercial profile that the event now enjoys and says there is no limit to where it might be staged; he would even consider staging it in Dubai, soon to be the setting for the European Tour finale.

"Unashamedly, we have to be commercial when we allocate the event," he said this week. "The Ryder Cup underwrites the finances of the Tour and funds all the game development and charitable work we do. Every penny we make goes back into the game, but we have to make as much as we can from the home match."

O'Grady believes the tournament has thrived because it delivers measurable benefits to the regions that act as host, and does not rule out a match in the Middle East.

Unashamedly, won't someone step up and explain to the European Tour that it's one thing to subject us to some truly awful golf courses, but another thing entirely to go outside of Europe?

"Sources close to Sea Island said the PGA Tour believes the concentration of touring pros that reside on the island will help strengthen the field."

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Thanks to all of the readers who sent Jon Show's story on the PGA Tour courting Sea Island for a possible Fall Finish event. A couple of noteworthy items from the story:

Industry sources said the tour is trying to sell a $2 million annual title sponsorship, which would include rights fees, ad inventory and four rounds of live coverage on Golf Channel.
Two Fall Series tournaments are title sponsored by their host resort courses, but sources said such an option is unlikely in this case because of Sea Island’s financial position. The company, which owns two resorts and a high-end housing community on the island, recently announced massive layoffs as a result of the weakening economy and downturn in the real estate market.

And I thought this was kind of sad statement about the way you have to take tournaments to the players to get them to play. I know, I know, the Fall Series interferes with Caitlin's cotillion, etc...

The Fall Series, which starts this week at the Viking Classic in Mississippi, was created last year as a package of seven events played after the conclusion of the FedEx Cup season. The inaugural series failed to attract most top-ranked players, but sources close to Sea Island said the PGA Tour believes the concentration of touring pros that reside on the island will help strengthen the field.