This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Gleneagles, Scotland • U.S. captain Tom Watson suffered a pair of defeats Sunday in the Ryder Cup — first from the Europeans, and then from Phil Mickelson.
In a subtle dig at Watson's leadership style, Mickelson said the Americans have strayed from the formula that Paul Azinger brought to the 2008 team at Valhalla, the only time since 1999 the Americans have won the Ryder Cup.
"We all do the best that we can and we're all trying our hardest," Mickelson said. "And I'm just looking back at what gave us the most success. Because we use that same process in the Presidents Cup and we do really well. Unfortunately, we have strayed from a winning formula in 2008 for the last three Ryder Cups, and we need to consider maybe getting back to that formula that helped us play our best."
The Americans were not at their best at Gleneagles in a 16½-11½ loss to Europe, which now has won eight of the last 10 times.
The best action was in a press conference, not on the course.
Mickelson spoke with Watson sitting just six seats away from him, with an empty stare while no one rose to his defense. He effectively was calling out Watson's leadership, which was more single-minded that Azinger in 2008, or even Davis Love III two years ago at Medinah.
Mickelson didn't see it as a "brutal destruction of leadership," as one reporter suggested.
"You asked me what I thought we should do going forward to bring our best golf out, and I go back to when we played our best golf," Mickelson said.
Azinger introduced a "pod" system at Valhalla, and later wrote a book on his philosophy. He broke the qualifiers into three groups, and let them choose who would be the captain's pick for each pod. They ate together, stayed in the same groups, played together as teams and were next to each other in the lineups.
Asked if that happened this week, Mickelson said, "Uh, no. No, nobody here was in any decision. So no."
Rarely has a losing press conference been so explosive, if not awkward.
"I had a different philosophy as far as being a captain of this team," Watson replied. "It takes 12 players to win. It's not pods. It's 12 players. Yes, 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."
Watson said he kept his potential teams together in practice rounds and switched some up, based on who he thought was playing well.