posted Sep 22, 2008

Excellent point about the absence of a 'daddy' group. That's one of several reasons why the omission of Darren Clarke was unforgivable. Leaving aside his competitive nature and capacity to inspire, he was very much in form. But I suspect Faldo balked at the notion of a genial Irishman encroaching on his limelight. Faldo's egomania was always liable to impinge on a team spirit which is essential to success in the Ryder Cup (and which Azinger harnessed superbly). Faldo clung to a fantasy of coming back from the jaws of defeat to win the last four singles so he could stick two fingers up to the press. Who did he take along to gee up his team? A past winning captain such as Bernard Gallagher or Sam Torrance? No. DJ Spoony. Absurd and embarrassing.

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posted Sep 22, 2008

Excellent last post and I agree with the structure. We were missing the important father figures or role models and yet Faldo cannot be criticised with his Wild Card choices. The only way to rectify this is to change the selection criteria and mirror the USA selection model. They have raised the bar now and Europe need to change to compete. Europe MUST go with 8 qualifying slots and 4 picks. This way they can construct a team around the 3 groups as outlined above. I think we need an astute Captain next time and LANGER fits the bill nicely, add Woosie as vice captain and I think its a winning combination for Wales 2010.

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posted Sep 22, 2008

aniboth he has the game to get to no 2 wether he does or not isn't the question. You said he didn't have the game I am saying he does! can you understand that or not!

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posted Sep 22, 2008

No doubt about it USA played better than us - to be fair, at times I couldn't see any of em playing anything but brilliant golf.

Didn't really matter, whether we had Monty, Clarky, or even Seve at his brilliant best, we did well to get the 11.5, and I dont think we would have got that many more.

However, for Lee Westwood to have a little dig at the crowd...well, there was a couple of times you could see the European players a little rattled at something being said, and I feel Westwood isnt, and never has been the kind of player to say something about it if it wasnt particularly bad.

Finally, I have gained some respect for Faldo that I never thought I would have..yes he is a little dour, and lacks the charisma of others, but I really do believe that he was a team player this time, and not an individual, seeking self gratification.

Azinger on the other hand..I really liked him before this, and thought he handled his team and tactics really well..but for him to condone the loutish element of the crowd..well..Im sorry but you have lost my respect!

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posted Sep 22, 2008

Having grown up watching Nick Faldo hold down the number one spot in the world for many years as a player, winning 6 majors I don't think we have another player around with those credentials so we need to make the most of them and get behind him for 2010.
Also I watched the sky coverage and perhaps some of our past captains need to take a look at their teams, which certainly were not always the most successful.

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posted Sep 23, 2008

I see 'zinger was defending faldos' captaincy,, little wonder, it sure made 'zingers' job easier.

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posted Sep 23, 2008

Annoying to see all predictions going Furyk's way. Jiménez lost only 2&1, but so did Westwood, Harrington, and a few others on our side, but they get the benefit of the doubt. He rarely missed a fairway nor a green. We didn't see much of him before the 12th hole, but it was tick for tack all the way, unlike Garcia who went down 5&4.

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posted Sep 24, 2008

Interesting to read the vitriolic comments by the British press about Faldo. They have certainly taken the opportunity to stick it to him. Well I wonder how many championships any of these parasites have won?

The USA gained an advantage on the first day and took the lead which has not occured over the last few cups. I didn't hear too many adverse comments from the press before that. Who failed to deliver, Faldo or the players?

Day 2 and Faldo selected his rookies against the 'advice' of the press pundits. What happened, they delivered and the senior players again under performed. When is the best time to blood your youngsters, in the singles or the pairs? Faldo took the sensible route and put them in the pairs.

Day 3 could have been played in a number of different ways. Plan A - put all of your best players up front and hope that they achieve parity and then hang on but the senior players had already been found wanting. Once the first group had gone through supported by the usual small galleries then the tailenders, with the rookies, would have been subjected to the pressure of the enlarged galleries. Plan B - put your youngsters in early and hope that they held their own. This would allow your senior players who should be able to deal with the galleries to steamroller the USA tailenders. Unfortunately THE senior player Senor Garcia turned turtle and that provided an huge boost to the confidence of the USA team. Was that Faldos's fault or the player?

One of the press comments was about the banality of Faldo's speech. Who the hell cares about his personal charisma or speech making. He was selected because of his golfing ability and the promise of providing a decent measure of captaincy.

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posted Sep 24, 2008

I dont really blame Faldo or the players, I think USA just peaked at this point and had the momentum to win it. Our team is not quite as balanced, experienced and maybe as good as other years with suddenly people like Garcia cast as you say as senior player before they are ready for it, Harrington too. Harrington is an excellent player but doesnt seem a talsiman leader type at all. Westwood is quite casual. USA had some new dynamic individuals and some seasoned campaigners not wanting to lose again (Furyk, Mickeson, Cink) whereas some of our experienced folks like Monty and Clarke were not in the form to be picked. Poulter provided this.
It appears our senior players underperformed but I think it was possibly as a result with them suddenly being cast as senior members and they just were not comfortable with it, also it was hard to follow 2006.
I thought Faldo made made some really good choices at times but was not so strong in other ways, but I dont think influenced things strongly in either direction other than to the natural result. I am not sure many of our previous captains we have had would have changed the result.

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posted Sep 27, 2008

if faldo had.
PICKED CLARKE and to a lesser extent monty
NOT DROPPED westwood and garcia on sat morning
BECAME A MYSTIC and knew which europeans were going to win on sunday and put them out first
HIRED A SPEECHWRITER
ADDED A COUPLE MORE ASSISTANTS,because it was obvious to me when boo weekly went -8 thru 14 holes on sunday that the european just never had enough assistants!


WE WOULD HAVE WON!
ITS OBVIOUS!

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