One of the extra entertaining factors of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship has been Fred Couples answering all forms of questions on the Ryder Cup. As you no doubt realize, many human beings accept as true with Freddie must be the subsequent Ryder Cup captain, given his three-zero report as a Presidents Cup captain.
Freddie's remarks made waves everywhere in the media and so, in case you someway neglected them, I've pulled some thoughts from those articles at ESPN, USAToday, and PGATOUR.Com. (The photo came from the latter.) I assume Freddie's mind will probably anger a number of humans due to the fact... Properly...
To be blunt, Freddie seemingly does not see what all of the fuss is set. Here are a few preference "Freddie-isms." I've brought some personal feedback in italics.
On the difficulties of the Captain's job: "I've captained three Presidents Cups teams, which is much easier to do than a Ryder Cup, but it's still 12 players in a room, and I think they all are different in certain ways. No matter who the next captain is or the next one or the next one, you can’t run the ship with a big stern. It's impossible. You've got to let the players get involved.
"I think anyone would love to be the Ryder Cup captain. I particularly don't think it's really that hard to do, I really don't. I keep hearing it's a two-year process. Well, what would I do right now? I don't even know who's going to be on the Presidents Cup team, let alone the Ryder Cup team. So I could go have dinner with Rickie Fowler for two straight years and tell him everything, and then he might not make it. So I think it's all -- it's just a little bit much. We need a little more fun and that comes with winning." [Sounds like Freddie thinks the PGA is over-emphasizing the Ryder Cup a bit!]
On creating a task force: "I don't think anyone should panic. I don't think we need a 'task force,'" Couples said, employing air quotes. "I don't think we need the PGA of America straining about this. What I really think they need is to get players that have been on a lot of these teams to get a feel for what kind of captain they need."
On Phil's comments after the matches: Tom Watson captained the last U.S. Ryder Cup team, and was put under a harsh spotlight after the loss when team member Phil Mickelson said that none of the team's 12 players was consulted on any decisions made during the competition.
Couples is hesitant to throw Watson under the bus, but he also said he had no problem with how Mickelson got his point across. Couples said he thought Watson didn't "cradle his boys enough, and that's what they need." [Is it just me or doesn't this sound as if Freddie is saying you have to treat the team members like children?]
On the one mistake he thinks Tom Watson made: Couples questioned 2014 U.S. captain Tom Watson's decision to sit five-time major winner and Ryder Cup stalwart Phil Mickelson for both Saturday sessions.
"I realize one element, I will play Phil Mickelson on Saturday of the following Ryder Cup if he is at the group. That was the only factor I ought to see that maybe you could say that Tom, something came about there.
"Because we misplaced 3 and a half of to a half [in the foursomes session], and I guarantee you it was due to the fact Phil wasn't accessible playing. I assure it."
In some other of the articles, he added that Phil became "the excellent guy on each team I've ever been on."
On the European "template": "I think the easiest part is just really not panicking. You've got to have your teams ready and just get points, and it's not easy to do. They make it look easy because they're winning and their formula, whatever it might be, is not because they're closer and they're friendlier to each other. That's the biggest crazy thing ever.
"Every team I've been on has been phenomenal, and I'm sure each crew Europe's ever had has been phenomenal. They just win, so it looks simpler."
On what the team members have told him: Couples has had contact with most of the players on this year’s Ryder Cup team. “There are several of them that I text and talk to all the time and I did during that week, too. I mean, some of the texts were disheartening, some were exciting. Some when they got home they said, ‘You need to do this.’”
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There's lots greater inside the articles (they are properly really worth the read) however there are a couple of observations in the PGATOUR.Com article that I think are critical because they come up with an concept of what Freddie has been doing with the Presidents Cup teams.
First, there is this little tidbit regarding Freddie's first Presidents Cup:
While Couples frowns on calling it a mission pressure ? He prefers ?Committee? As a euphemism ? He likes the idea of selecting Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods to serve on the panel.
In his first time period as Presidents Cup captain at TPC Harding Park, Couples said every pinnacle degree meeting he had protected his three-time assistant captain Jay Haas, Woods, Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk, the team?S veteran campaigners, and Michael Jordan. It become Couples? Way of empowering team leaders as he carried out an age-old sports adage that your excellent players need to be your pleasant gamers with a view to be successful.
“I think that worked out great,” Couples said. “Phil Mickelson has been on 10 of them, Woods, I don’t know, eight or 10. So those guys should really have a say.” And finally, there's this observation from vice captain Jay Haas:
Haas, who will captain the 2015 U.S. Presidents Cup group, is aware of precisely what Couples brings in the position.
?I can most effective speak to how the gamers responded to him in the Presidents Cup,? Haas said. ?I don?T recognize what it's miles. It?S hard to position your finger on it. He simply has a knack at enjoyable the guys.
?Somebody asked what were a number of Freddie?S speeches like. They have been zero. In truth, one time any individual said, ?Fred, deliver us some thing.? He sort of hemmed and hawed and he goes, ?Jaybird, what do you have got to say???
But Haas said Couples is ?Manner more into it than he we could on and that we see.
“He knows the details. He’s already figured the scenario out. I think he would be a great choice.” Once you add in Freddie's reminder that captains don't hit any shots, you realize that perhaps Freddie's biggest key to success as a Presidents Cup captain is that he never forgets that this is just a game. Perhaps that's what makes him so different from most Ryder Cup captains.
And why so many gamers need him to be one.
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