While it hasn’t been made official, Paul Azinger’s captaincy of the 2008 United States Ryder Cup team is all but guaranteed. The good news is that he can’t do any worse than the previous two competitions. Then again, he probably won’t do any better. This news broke the other day, but it seems like a random decision, and made me somewhat skeptical at first.
Azinger isn’t exactly the most well known, or best American golfer, and probably doesn’t instill fear in the heart of the Europeans. But, Azinger and European captain Nick Faldo were both on ESPN Friday doing announcing for the Tour Championship, and the interaction was slightly awkward. Azinger was congratulated on his appointment, but since it isn’t official he couldn’t say thank you, and simply had to pull the “no comment” card. After they got past the initial unpleasant phase, things started to get better.
It didn’t take long before I became a fan of this selection, and Azinger in general. While his 5-7-3 lifetime record at the Ryder Cup isn’t anything to brag about, his undefeated record in singles competition proves that he is a gamer. Azinger was cracking jokes during the telecast and seemed confident, at one point grabbing Nick Faldo’s hand, proclaiming them sweaty, and saying Faldo is already nervous even though he hadn’t been offically named captain yet.
I got to thinking about this, and maybe this is exactly the type of leader the American side needs to finally win a Ryder Cup. Do we need the confident, almost to the point of arrogant, captain? If he is confident and relaxed will that pass onto the players? Think about it, as American society we tend to think of ourselves as better than everyone else, if Azinger can harness this feeling, maybe he can relate it to the players and get them to perform well for him.
Everyone always says we lose because we don’t have the team unity of the Europeans, but maybe we don’t need unity. The United States isn’t necessarily known for great teamwork in any of its sports. Why should golf, an individualistic sport to begin with, be any different? I don’t know that it should. Maybe Azinger will take this approach and just give the players on his team individual confidence. This is probably all just wishful thinking, but maybe all the United States team needs to succeed at Valhalla Country Club in two years is that boost of confidence. Or maybe we just need more really bad shirts.
