Mickelson Criticial of Watson After U.S. Loses Ryder Cup

By Christopher Elser

Photographer: Harry Engels/Getty Images

Phil Mickelson of the United State talks during a press conference after his team were... Read More

Phil Mickelson criticized the leadership of U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson after the American team failed to win golf’s premier team competition for the third consecutive time.
The U.S. lost the three-day event 16 1/2-11 1/2 to Europe, the winner of six of the last seven tournaments. Mickelson, who has played 10 times for the U.S. in the event, said the team’s management ignored some of the techniques used by Paul Azinger, the captain last time the Americans won, in 2008.
Mickelson said Azinger allowed the players to be more involved in decisions on practices and the groups they’d work in. The 2008 captain gave each group a game plan about how to attack the opposition, and how to react to other situations, a process that the U.S. uses in the Presidents Cup, a tournament against a
squad of non-European professionals.
“One was he got everybody invested in the process,” Mickelson, 44, said of Azinger during a press conference yesterday. “He got everybody invested in who they were going to play with, who the picks were going to be. We were invested in the process. And the other thing that Paul did really well was he had a great game plan for us, you know, how we were going to go about doing this.”
Watson, 63, is one of the most decorated American golfers, having won the British Open five times. He left Mickelson, a veteran of 10 Ryder Cups, out of the second day of this year’s event. Mickelson won his singles match 3-and-1 yesterday against Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and took one of his two team matches on the opening day.

Watson’s Vision

Watson said he used vice captains Raymond Floyd, Andy North and Steve Stricker to help set up his teams, and tried to pick his match-ups based on which players were doing well in the build-up to the tournament.
“I had a different philosophy as far as being a captain of this team,” Watson told reporters. “You know, it takes 12 players to win. I did talk to the players, but my vice captains were very instrumental in making decisions as to whom to pair with. I had a different philosophy than Paul. I decided not to go that way.”
The U.S. trailed at the end of each day of the tournament, and entered the final day losing 10-6. The Europeans only needed four points to retain the trophy and 4 1/2 for outright victory, and got there when Welshman Jamie Donaldson won 4-and-3 over Keegan Bradley at Gleneagles in Scotland yesterday.
“Listen, the Europeans kicked our butt,” Watson said. “They were better players this week. I mean, we had a chance today. We started off, got everything in the red, almost everything in the red. Then they turned it on us, and that’s what champions are made of. They get down and come back and win. They kicked our butts, and that’s the bottom line.”