PRESIDENTS CUP:COMMUNICATION AND teamwork will be key to the United States retaining the Ryder Cup in Wales next year, according to Presidents Cup-winning captain Fred Couples.
The US beat the International side 19½ to 14½ at Harding Park in San Francisco on Sunday, captain Couples getting the best out of the world’s top three players Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker in a way many American Ryder Cup skippers have failed to do in the past.
Woods won all five of his matches, four of them in a partnership with Stricker that seems destined to be set in stone for Celtic Manor next September against Colin Montgomerie’s European side, while Mickelson was also unbeaten, contributing four and a half points to the American cause.
Asked what knowledge gained from his Presidents Cup experience he would pass on to 2010 captain Corey Pavin, Couples emphasised the importance of building relationships with his players a long way out from tournament time.
“I knew what to say to these 12 guys, to be quite honest,” Couples said of his players.
“I picked a couple of guys out, started texting them, talking to them, and they performed really, really well the last four or five weeks.
“Obviously there’s a handful I didn’t really need to bother, but I enjoyed bothering them.
“So I would tell Corey to bother them. Text them, make fun of them, make them feel like they are going to get ripped a little bit and make them feel like they are not going to hit every shot perfect.
“For me, I never put a walkie-talkie in my hand and never had a headset on. I walked around and it was fun to watch people hit the ball, even on their team.
“They were magnificent, too. I only paid attention to my guys, and it’s a different game when you’re watching. And then I had more fun watching.”
Mickelson thinks the Americans have benefited from the introduction of the FedEx Cup play-offs on the PGA Tour over the last three years, believing the US players have gained an edge from the high intensity tournament play in the run-up to the team events.
“Our season pretty much ends with the FedEx Cup and what’s been so nice has been having the FedEx Cup so close to the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup,” Mickelson said.
“Without question it’s helped but it’s been huge for me because rather than shutting it down for four to six weeks and then trying to get sharp for one event, it’s easier to just carry the momentum and all that work and effort to getting your game in shape for the FedEx Cup.
“It’s been huge for me and I think it has really helped a lot of the other players.”
Couples was delighted the Woods-Stricker pairing worked so well, unbeaten in both alternate-shot foursomes and fourballs, and providing the platform for an American victory.
“It was a fun thing to have Tiger and Steve beat up on everybody, for me, because I wanted Tiger to win every match, and I thought that was important to our team,” Couples said.
Singles:(USA names first)
H Mahan bt C Villegas 2 1, S Cink bt A Scott 4 3, J Leonard halved with M Weir, A Kim bt R Allenby 5 3, S Stricker lost to G Ogilvy 2 1, S O’Hair bt E Els 6 4, K Perry lost to R Ishikawa 2 1, Z Johnson lost to T Clark 4 3, T Woods bt YE Yang 6 5, L Glover halved with V Singh, P Mickelson bt R Goosen 2 1, J Furyk lost to A Cabrera 4 3.
Overall:USA 19½ International Team 14½
Golf Rankings
Race To Dubai
1 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) €2,008,567
2 Martin Kaymer (Ger) €1,982,055
3 Paul Casey (Eng) €1,965,150
4 Lee Westwood (Eng) €1,741,940
5 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus)€1,606,805
6 Ross Fisher (Eng) €1,524,347
7 Oliver Wilson (Eng) €1,499,505
8 Simon Dyson (Eng) €1,387,517
9 Angel Cabrera (Arg) €1,385,499
10 Søren Kjeldsen (Den) €1,240,053
11 G Fdez-Castaño (Spa) €1,140,635
Other Irish
21 Padraig Harrington €868,662
37 Graeme McDowell €668,972
47 Peter Lawrie €551,429
48 Gareth Maybin €549,577
50 Damien McGrane €531,782
66 Darren Clarke €437,859
82 Michael Hoey €341,327
107 Paul McGinley €273,483
120 Gary Murphy €225,924
181 Shane Lowry €81,682
World Rankings
1 Tiger Woods (USA) 16.17 pts avg.
2 Phil Mickelson (USA) 8.04
3 Steve Stricker (USA) 7.71
4 Paul Casey (Eng) 6.37
5 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 5.88
6 Kenny Perry (USA) 5.81
7 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 5.68
8 Jim Furyk (USA) 5.42
9 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 5.36
10 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 5.14
11 Lee Westwood (Eng) 5.10
12 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 4.96
13 Stewart Cink (USA) 4.83
14 Sean O’Hair (USA) 4.68
15 Vijay Singh (Fji) 4.30
Other Irish
18 Rory McIlroy 4.17
52 Graeme McDowell 2.35
109 Darren Clarke 1.52
122 Gareth Maybin 1.37
160 Damien McGrane 1.10
173 Peter Lawrie 1.04
Ryder Cup
(top four on world list qualify, then next five on European list. Captain Colin Montgomerie adds three wild cards)
World points
1 *Simon Dyson 63.5
2 *Ross McGowan 48.0
3 *Padraig Harrington 47.3
4 *Alexander Noren 40.3
5 Rafael Cabrera-Bello 36.4
6 Rory McIlroy 32.9
7 Oliver Wilson 24.6
European Points
1 Simon Dyson 690,656
2 Ross McGowan 496,503
3 Alexander Noren 352,330
4 *Rafael Cabrera-Bello 325,070
5 *Rory McIlroy 330,340
6 *Oliver Wilson 301,540
7 *Bradley Dredge 249,056
8 *Anders Hansen 220,000
9 Mikko Ilonen 195,065
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