Ryder Cup May Suffer Now That European Team Has Lost So Much Leadership
Is the Ryder Cup in jeopardy?
As things stand today, it possible that the most popular golf event on the planet may have some cracks in its foundation.
When Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood decided to relinquish their DP World Tour membership earlier this week, they also effectively washed their hands of any involvement in the Ryder Cup in the future.
While a sad commentary on where the LIV Golf controversy has taken us, it also puts the European side of the biennial matches in somewhat of a pickle.
All three players were on the shortlist to be a captain at some point, with Westwood already turning down his captaincy for the team that will be competing in Rome later this year.
Westwood, 50, said he wanted to focus on his game and the Ryder Cup captaincy would detract from that.
So, the European Tour turned to Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and then summarily dumped him once he joined LIV. They finally settled on Luke Donald to lead the team in Rome.
The Euros were lucky Donald was available, because the next guy up for Bethpage in 2025 will be a relative unknown unless the European Tour goes back in the archives and takes a former captain.
Which is possible. The U.S. did it with Davis Love III and he wasn’t even successful on his maiden voyage at Medinah.
Paul McGinley may be a perfect return-captain and since he’s been battle-tested, a good choice.
So is Padraig Harrington.
But the Europeans have not had a repeat captain since Bernhard Gallacher in 1995.
Repeat or newly minted, however, you slice it, the need for someone who will garner interest and lead is imperative. When you look at Garcia, Poulter and Westwood no longer on the bench, and Graeme McDowell and Stenson likely unacceptable, the list of potential captains becomes extremely short.
With the five persona non grata, the Europeans have lost 10 years of captains or five Ryder Cups where all that would have been settled. Now it’s more of an all-hands-on-deck mentality.
The loss is not only the captaincy, but also the institutional knowledge and the leadership of the vice captains.
For example, Donald has Thomas Bjorn, Eduardo Molinari, and Nicholas Colsaerts as vice captains.
Excluding Bjorn, who was a captain in 2018 in France, Colsaerts and Molinari have played in a total of two Ryder Cups, Colsaerts in 2012 had a 1-3-0 record and Molinari in 2010 went 0-1-2.
Just one win in seven matches and only two points, combined.
Contrast that with the records of Garcia, McDowell, Poulter, Stenson and Westwood, and the numbers are staggering.
Together they have played in 37 Ryder Cups, each having a winning record with a total of 79-53-19 and 88.5 points.
If experience means anything, this is a tremendous loss and one that would be impossible to overcome.
The Europeans have done well in the underdog role, but it may be too much to ask a basically untested team with new leadership to tackle a U.S. team that was on cruise control at Whistling Straits just two years ago.
Of course, playing a home game in Italy is a positive, since the U.S. has not won in Europe since 1993, but then what?
New York in 2025 will not be a picnic for the Euros and a lack of veteran leadership will make the task more difficult.
It will go on until someone picks up the mantle, but when will that be? That’s anyone’s guess.
What is very clear is that the Euros are now in a deep, dark hole on the leadership front, and it will take time to dig themselves out.
No grand plan will fix this, ultimately there is very little they can do but let the situation play itself out and hope someone steps up.