´óÏó´«Ã½

First, Iain, I'd like to offer my congratualations to you and your team on a job well done at the Ryder Cup. Although the result was not the one I'd hoped for, the tension and sportin draam from this weekend was something I won't forget quickly and in a peverse sort of way I actually enjoyed this year more than our two steam-rolling victories in the past two matches. You're dead right to suggest that this could be a definite shot in the arm for the Ryder Cup's future, and there's no doubt needs events like this in it's calendar (far more than it needs to be i the Olympics at any rate).

Secondly, congratulations to Paul Azinger and the US team. They played the better golf and were worthy winners.

The inquest seems to have alreday begun into the European failure judging by the back pages of the English press (presumably the same applies to their Celtic equivelants). Whilst Nick Faldo, as he captain, has to carry some responsibility for the defeat, I think it's totally unfair for him to carry the can himself. There were several big-name European players who, as Iain alludes to, did not turn up. Who would have guessed that Harrigton, Westwood and Garcia would contibute just 2 1/2 points between them? We're used to getting more than that from Garcia alone! I feel sorry for the likes of Justin Rose, Greame McDowell, Robert Karlsson and especially Ian Poulter- these lesser lights gave their all only to be let down by some of their more celebrated colleagues.

I think alot of it was lost on the greens- alot of our golf prior to the final day was exemplerary from tee to green but we were strugling to hole 8 ft putts on a consistent basis whilst our opponents were finding the cup from twice that range with what seemed like regularity- this cost us especially in the saturday foursomes, I felt, where a few holed putts here and there could have seen the sides go into the final day level-peggng which could have made all the difference.

The decisions Falso has took most stick for where ones he was at least partially vindicated on- Poulter took 4 points from 5, whilst the Westwood/Garcia free foursomes was the only session we won outright. Maybe as the dust settles it might be revealed that the poor performances of the Big 3 were down to dressing-room disharmony, in which case Faldo must take some responsibility for this. But first and foremost, I think we have to accept that the US played the better golf, that they held their nerves when it mattered most, and that their golfers for the first time since the 1990's excellend themselves whilst ours did not perform to expectations.

Sorry for the long post, folks!

I wish I had your hindsight.

The resting (not dropping as the ´óÏó´«Ã½ reported it) of Garcia/Westwood was irrelevant as their replacements won.

Sometimes the better team wins and there was nothing Faldo could have done.

Where does this bitterness towards Faldo come from ?

Are Bjorn and Jimenez seriously better contenders for the captiancy than Sandy Lyle....he's a multiple major champion from the era when europe made the ryder cup what it is today.

all of his contemporaries (faldo, woosie, seve, langer) have had a go yet he never get's a mention.

maybe he's not enough of a self promotionist to get his name considered.

personnaly i think he'd make a great captain.

I think the influence of the Captain is a little overstated. Woosie was not a good captain but yet we hammered the US last time. Faldo was pretty good apart from his failure to sort out the Harrington vs Garcia problem. But, then again, that is what cost us the match and so you can't give him much more than, say, 6 out of 10.

Thanks a lot Captain Cockup, Captain Azinger asked the US crowd to be the 13th man, well you were the 14th man. When Faldo was appointed captain, I thought he would bring a methodical approach to the captaincy, leaving no stone unturned, the ultimate perfectionist, how wrong could I have been.

Instead we got Captain Cock Up, legendary be having Billy No Mates on Tour, he couldn't or wouldn't have more than one assistant, it was crying out for more help, how about McGinley, Bjorn or even pass captains like Torrance or Langer as helpers. Instead we are reduced to the site of Faldo's son and bizzarely DJ Spoony offering advice. Faldo will go down as one of the worst captains of all time, compare how Langer did it in Detroit, ever the consumate professional and most of all had the players playing for him.

Many mistakes were made, the pairings for the foursomes and fourballs, Faldo tried to be too cute, letting his ego get the better of him, when simplicity required the tried and trusted and play guys who were playing well. Don't believe that Sergio and Westwood wanted to be rested, imagine how they felt when told they were not playing, Faldo lost the respect of his three most experienced players. The singles ordered required the top being loaded just like The Belfry 2002, sure the back guys will take care of itself especially if there is a sea of blue at the front.

No gripes the US played better and deserved the win, forget about the US crowd who were good in general if partisan, but our Captain Cock Up made it a lot easier. The abiding memory is Europe were captained by Del Boy Trotter and not a 6 time major champion.

Now onto 2010, the US will be strong, but Europe can win providing the captain is a good one, early suggestions, maybe Olly and Seve dreamteam, that would wind the US up, or Langer again, even Monty.

yeah well, it just didn't happen for europe. fair play to the americans (even booo!)
you can't beat the passion and excitement of the ryder cup. spectacular.

Ian, as others have mentioned, the criticism of the Poulter pick and the 'dropping of Westwood and Garcia is totally ludicrous. The anti-Faldo feeling really annoys me. Everyone knows he has his flaws but his flaws weren't resposible for our loss. Garcia hasn't looked in form for a long time and his putting seems to be getting worse. Harrington was held up to be a leading figure but I don't think he has the personality to do it. He strikes me as being more of a lieutenant than a general on the fairways. After the year he has had, asking him to pull out another top performance might have been asking too much. Westwood was disappointing too.

As I said elsewhere, we didn't lose the Ryder Cup: the US won it. Right selection, right team, and it makes you wonder if we will be changing our Ryder Cup selection process for 2010.

If Garcia was feeling off colour tell him he'll probably play only the foursomes (after all you are only hitting half the shots), remind him he's unbeaten in this format and say we'll review the situation ahead of the afternoon picks.

---------

haha, that is such a stupid comment. first of all anyone that plays golf knows that foursomes is more demanding than fourball even although it half the shots - playground logic.
there is a tone here that you have assumed faldo made no effort to encourage garcia to play, im sure he would have he knows how important a player garcia is. but if the guy isnt fit for action faldo has to take his word for it.

Fantastic Ryder Cup..........Boo Weekley for me was the start of the show, with or without socks on. He even had his empty water bottle under his seat at the closing ceremony last night to spit his tobacco into...priceless.

Surely Woosie is the obvious captain for Celtic Manor!!!

I have to question some of our guys schedule coming into the Ryder Cup...Sergio was feeling tired and Harrington also complained about being tired....you would think these guys would be feeling fresh for the Ryder Cup.

"personally I think he would make a great captain"

Sandy Lyle for captain I hope that is a joke.

A man who walks in after 9 holes of the British Open cause he just couldn't hack it.

What happens if we go down in the first 4 matches of the opening day...does he just pack it in and head on the first flight out of Wales.

Thomas Bjorn is another no no...a man who threw his dummy out the pram because Woosnam didn't give him one of his wild cards.

No thanks.

You want a captain that, if he doesn't make it into the team, admits that the better man got the place this year but will come out and fight for his place in the next team.

For me it would have to be Olly.

I would keep Olly for across the pond in 4 years time.......Woosie would stir the passion of the Welsh nation I'm sure

"Are Bjorn and Jimenez seriously better contenders for the captiancy than Sandy Lyle...."

I'm a huge fan of Lyle and always have been. However he lost ALL credibility when he spat his dummy out and walked in after 10 holes of this years Open. That episode is still at the forefront of many a person's mind. Captaincy errors might well have been made by Faldo but he does have the respect of the players. I think Lyle's respect may have taken a slight dip and therefore surely he's not a contender for captaincy.

As usual Carter you talk complete and utter tosh!

How can you seem to pass over the failings of so many of Europe's star players. Garcia, Jiminez, Westwood, Harrington, Stenson... What is a captain supposed to do if his players just aren't playing well.

He dropped (not rested) Garcia and Westwood because they were playing like idiots and needed a kick up the behind.

I love the way you've still managed to pin some of the blame on Poulter as well - classic! He got four points. The other 11 players couldn't manage the other ten points needed between them.

Congrats to the US - they were superb.

I'd have thought you would be calling for Faldo to stay on so you could wheel out the usual hacks diatribe about Faldo - but don't worry, I'm sure there'll be another band wagon along shortly for you to jump on.

Your colleagues blog is insightful, honest and well written - yours by comparison is a big pile of pants!

If there was perhaps one criticism of Faldo, being two points down going into the singles I would've put the big guns out in the top half to try and get some blue on the board quickly, but to be honest I think it was always going the be USA's day. Our guys played well; but at the end of the day it comes down to the putting and I think over the 3 days the Americans hold an awful lot more putts than we did.

I think it's a bit harsh to suggest Woods doesn't care about the Ryder Cup - he just has other priorities, such as beating his best round on Tiger Woods 2009 on the Nintendo Wii.

No love for Faldo, amazing really, the guy puts his heart and soul into something, is let down badly by his top 3 and is castigated in the media as if it is all his fault; and yet, when asked why we lost he says it was closer than the score suggests and that every match was a knife edge. Not a word of criticism from him about his team at all.

He was right, the last two matches might have been halved or won if the event was not already decided, and 14.5 plays 13.5 would have been the score then rather than 16.5 11.5. it matters not, we were beaten by the better team over the weekend. Placing blame anywhere is fruitless becasue there is no blame to place. In a two horse race ther is always going to be one winner and one loser.

Can't criticise Faldo too much.

I would have top loaded the singles, but Faldo's tactics were nearly right. If Hansen had held on for a half the result might well have ben different. At the end of the day, it's the players that hit the ball, and they just didn't do it well enough this time. Harrington has never had a great Ryder cup record, and along with Westwood and Garcia cost us the cup.

If we'd top loaded the singles lineup we'd have probably taken zero points from the top four matches instead of the 2 1/2 we actually won. We lost the singles in the middle order not at the top.

Robin Hodgetts blog is a much fairer assessment of what happened than this anti-Faldo vitriol.

Sometimes there is a need for the blame game but not in this instance. We were beaten by the better team. End of.

Credit Paul Azinger, but Europe allowed them to play without putting them under pressure - how different it might have been had Europe's two best (Poulter and Rose) hung on to their first day foursomes lead over Cink and Campbell? Even the US confirm how crucial that was.

Leaderboard for Singles:
-6 Rose (16 holes)
-4 Karlsson (15)
-4 Poulter (16)
-4 Wilson (16)
-4 McDowell (17)
-4 Westwood (17)
-2-ish Stenson (16)
-2 Casey (18)
Ev Hansen (17) (Still unlucky to lose to Holmes' drive on 16 which might just as easily have been OB)
Ev M-A J (17)
+2-ish Garcia (14)
+5 Harrington (17) lost to Campbell who was about +2.

Rubbish to say Harrington is the #2 player in the world, altho he's one of a number who might be on any given day. Garcia not far behind. But neither delivered.

Easy to say the US won, but they were allowed to win, the pressure applied from securing early leads and making them count was sadly absent.

Here is why Faldo has to take the main blame.

Firstly, by not picking Clarke and Monty, he lost two solid pairings; Westwood and Clarke and Harrington and Monty. So although Poulter performed wonderfully, we have to consider the oppotunity cost of not having other pairings. Rose would have performed equally well with anyone and even if we may have lost one of Poulter's points, I suspect they would have been made up with better pairings elsewhere.

Secondly, not front loading the singles is just dumb. Every Ryder cup in the last 20 years has been won from early singles momentum. If the first five were: Monty, Clarke, Westwood, Harrington and Sergio, this would give the right message. I know the latter two didn't perform well (you can't count Westwood and Harrington on day 3, the game was over) but by Day 3, the psychological advantage was lost.

Thirdly, the USA played really well but they were given momentum from the Europe pairings. When a well-established team like Europe are not sure how the pairings will perform, then that has to send messages that we are guessing a bit aswell.

As most of us who play matchplay golf know, psychology is massively important when the standard is pretty even. Faldo's judgments just made sure the psychological advantage was always with the USA.

I like Faldo a lot but from picks to pairings, he really didn't seem to get the psychological part of the Ryder Cup.

I think it is unfair on Faldo to second guess all of the decisions that have to be made in very little time over a hectic weekend. That said for me what was appalling was the lack of prescence we had on the course. Every time an American left the green there was Ray Floyd or someone else there to calm then down or pump them up as the occasion warranted. For our lads - where was the love from our management? There were a few occasions when I was appalled, first, when Garcia was around the turn and started to fret, he needed an arm round him and no-one was there. Exactly the same was needed with Casey and Hanson down the stretch. It felt at times like we were taking them on alone and that was not acceptable.

As for the next skipper then can be only one based on perfomance - and that is Langer. I have no idea why the Ryder Cup captaincy is considerd some sort of honour that is handed around former great (and not so great) players. This is bloody important and we should choose our best man for the job. Langer has clearly demonstrated that he is that man. He was peerless as a leader in Michigan.

Normally Iain I quite like you, particularly on the radio. You are interesting and knowledgeable. But this is just plain garbage. Badly thought out irrelevancies and vitriol for vitriol's sake. The other blogger was much better on this occasion

It is the problem of 24hr rolling news where you just have to have something to fill the next gap. The standard of journalism would improve if we just went back to newspapers and three news bulletins a day. But that isn't going to happen so along with the insightful stuff we get the spiteful stuff and the celebrity nonsense.

Faldo was let down by parts of his team, the engine room if you will. A team is picked on merit, not by the skipper, if there were 12 picks and we lost then yes Faldo should get it in the neck, Faldo's picks did quite well, better than average, although I don't think Paul Casey is quite as good as Paul Casey thinks he is. I think we need 4 picks instead of two so there is less chance of a one off victory somewhere leading to a place on the team. This still would not have helped this weekend as it was the usually consistant who were as nervous as a very small nun at a penguin shoot.

Congrats to the septics, well done, see you in two years. You played very, very well indeed and deserved to win, not by the margin you eventually did win by, but you should have won all the same.

To Bloggerx

---If the first five were: Monty, Clarke, Westwood, Harrington and Sergio, this would give the right message. I know the latter two didn't perform well (you can't count Westwood and Harrington on day 3, the game was over)----


If we had sent out that top 5 it would have sent a message to the US. It would have said, "Exactly how would you like your cup delivered?"
And as for your Poulter argument...Bwahahhahahha! Tosh and piffle. It is akin to saying "Lets leave Ronaldo on the bench and put in Cantona, he's good and everybody loves him."

Poulter played a blinder and to argue otherwise is .....fill in the gap.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Some good comments and some rediculous ones on this thread.

Good comment about lack of a support team for players during matches. I feel during Friday and Saturday there should be an assistant with each match.

Monty would have been a disaster in hindsight, he wasnt playing well enough and having seen the quality would have been stuffed. A grumpy monty would not have helped, and with Faldo and Pulter there. No way.

Clarke might have been a father figure and would have contributed points, but Casey did ok for me after a poor Friday, and Poulter was outstanding.

When it comes to pitch and putt golf in hot and firm conditions the Yanks have the edge and the course was set up to perfection for that. I dont think our performance was such a disaster and we have plenty of young guns coming through for 2010, Fisher, Kaymer etc, so the future is bright.

Langer is a great shout for 2010 if he wants it. He has class and style and tactical nous. I would have Woosie as assistant with 2 more for reasons noted above.

Great venue in the making at Celtic Manor, and if you want to see it before 2010 get along the the Wales Open next May.

See you there.

Glad the US won.

It makes for a better tournament next time. The same winner each time was getting boring and lacked drama.

This Ryder Cup had everything.

Iain Carter b, basis of your articles is totally rubbish and ignorant. I had always maintained that even though "team spirit" helps winning team but the biggest factor to winning the Ryder Cup is who has the best "short game" for that week [more single putts, chip ins and approaches with wedges in hand] and USA did that better than us.

Yes it would been brilliant if Europe had won but some of the excuses from our players, fans and pundits are nothing short of disgrace. USA were a bit overzealous but not much and the last 2 times which this same excuse came out Brookline and Valhalla, we lost so we need to stop being sore losers and dont underestimate any team next time we played because we did so this time and there is no such thing as banker point because nothing is ever won on paper.

Surely Harrington and Westwood have enough pride that even if the team's lost, they're not going to make sure that they do the best that they can do, so I do believe that they were beaten fair and square.

I think in hindsight, I'd say that there was maybe things that should have been done differently, but I would also say they are not necessarily bad decisions - they were just decisions that didn't have the outcome one would have wished for.

Picking the singles is a lottery and then it comes down to how they play on the day. At the Belfry in 2002, the American's lesser names could have held Monty and co at the top of the order, meaning that Woods and Love held firm while the more lesser European's wilted.

1999, Europe's 2nd best player at the time, Westwood, went out and lost to a captain's pick, though very able, in Lehman.

Garcia just appeared to be so rubbish yesterday he would have lost against anyone he played.

It's the same with Clarke/Monty arguments. Maybe they would have got 4 points each. Maybe they would haved faltered and just got a 1/2. We will just never know.

To any idiots(including Iain Carter) who still criticise Faldo for picking Poulter ahead of Clarke or Monty obviously need their head checking. How can you argue that someone who contributed nearly half the European score didn't deserve his place.

Faldo was correct when he siad that a hole either way could have changed the score of the match. If Europe big 3 players had performed in their matches over the week, the scoreline could have been very different.

A special mention has to go to Oliver Wilson who despite being 4 under par in the singles was beaten.

As for the future, I personally believe Sandy Lyle threw away the job by choosing to walk in at the Open. I was there following him that day and my hands weren't cold. For me, it has to be Olly or Woosie at the Celtic Manor in 2010.

I have watched the Ryder Cup this weekend with my usual excitement - I love this competition. I was struck by the team ethic of US - Azinger always seemed to be there - with his assistants/team. Faldo always seemed to be on his own. Not a team player, in my opinion. And he should have had more assistants. The US putted better, and they deserved the win - I do wonder what would have happened had Poulter and Rose not spurned a 4 hole advantage on Round 1 on Friday morning. You cannot knock their outstanding achievements in the rest of the competition. It is true to say some of the team did not perform as we had hoped - Harrington and Westwood, and I felt Stenson too as the Matchplay Champion last year (and semi-finalist this year) was disappointing. But you can take nothing away from Team USA - deserved winners. I would like to see Langer back as Captain next time round, or Olly. Roll on 2010!

Of course, some of the Europe's strongest players had a poor showing. Poulter performed very well. So what do these facts reveal? Different golfers simply performing at different levels, or an insight to the Captain's ability to motivate only some players and not the entire team?

I feel that Faldo was not as bad as I feared he would be but no as good as he should have been. Why do we consider Garcia is one of our big guns - his singles record is woeful and he has bottled it towards the end of majors so many times now. I would love to see Jimenez as captain at Celtic Manor, Olly in the US in 2012 and Monty at Gleneagles in 2014.

The biggest difference between the teams was in and around the greens. The home captain rightly has the right to have the course set up as he wants. Therefore we should have the greens at a slower pace at Celtic Manor. The next time the cup is in the US the qualification should finish earlier and the captain should be getting as many sponsor's invites as he can for his team in the weeks prior to the cup. Failing that the PGA (or European Tour if they are the responsible body) should hire a US course lock stock and barrel for two weeks to allow them to acclimatise to the conditions and practise properly.

Nick Faldo, 11-time Ryder-cupper (his words) and one-time losing Ryder Cup captain.
Leave it there.

carter YOU are the biggest fool in golf writing.
hindsight eh?
and you were so supportive of faldos 'inspired' pick of poulter in the first place werent you?
even a monkey could work out why we lost the ryder cup/and it had nothing to do with our very good captain.
harrington/westwood/garcia!
even if the underperforming threesome had managed to fiind anythink like the form they should have as late as sunday we would have won.
faldo performed miricals with the middle men and rookies.THE BIG GUNS WERE PATHETIC AND SO WAS YOUR ARTICLE!

What a great 3 days of golf. My points are really straightforward:

1. The yanks deserved their win because they played fantastic golf over the period. The number of putts they missed could be counted on the fingers of one hand - while we missed too many.

2. Our bigger players didn't perform. It is irrelevant that they were scheduled down the list on the Sunday. They were not playing well - full stop.

3. Nick Faldo - the guy is aloof. arrogant, an individualist. But in my mind he's still one of my hero's - the greatest European player of all time. He deserved a crack at the captaincy purely for his record and status in the game - although he didn't look a natural choice.

Nick made his choices - some came off such as Poulter - some didn't (Westwood should have played on Saturday). But while its sad it isn't exactly surprising that elements of the press are out to get him.

The fact is the Faldo did a reasonable job as captain but came up against an inspired american team with an impressive leader in Azinger. We've dominated the Ryder Cup for ages and we were due to defeat. Its happened so lets me on and not take it out on Faldo who doesn't deserver the criticism he's getting

In 2006 I felt you could not lay any blame on Lehman for the USA loss, this year I feel likewise about Faldo. The pick of Poulter turned out to be inspired after all. How you can argue with Garcia and Westwood being rested for the Saturday foursomes when that is the only session Europe won is beyond me!

Frankly Europe lost because they didn't play to the same great standard that the USA did. And be reminded that the world number two is Phil Mickelson, not Harrignton. In fact Vijay Singh is ranked ahead of Harrington!

Another irrelevant article from Carter.

"Garcia should have played in the Saturday foursomes because he would only have to hit half the shots"!! An incredible bit of reasoning from the ´óÏó´«Ã½ golf correspondent!

Carter should look closely at his own performance.

Glad to see a lot of support for Faldo, even though he's not my favourite person, he did really well I think.

This article is typical of the beebs online sport and 5 live. It's about generating content (like this!!) and provoking comment rather than reporting facts.

Afterall, where's the news in "the best team won" ?

Eh?

I agree with many of the above comments - I cannot find fault with Faldo's strategy. Hindsight is 20/20. I certainly think Zinger deserves congrats on his tenure as captain.
His pairings were close to flawless.

Kenny Perry was particularly inspiring. To hear a 48 year old man state that the Ryder Cup win was the greatest experience of his life is quite amazing. He played lights out. I think Westwood should avoid complaining, as it can come across as sour grapes. I personally thought Boo Weekley was hillarious, although I am glad there aren't too many of his ilk out there!

All in all, I think it was very entertaining and I'm already excited about 2010!

I totally agree with the blog from The dukeofspain.

I have just spent many hours watching, from my couch in Singapore, one of the greatest golf events for sometime. Paying the price for no sleep right now!! The singles could have gone either way, and it was putting that made the difference. Wilson was -4 and still lost!! We can discuss about leads lost by the US had some too and threw them away.

Overall, the best team won on the day and Poulter and Wilson should extremely proud of their achievements. I too am a Faldo fan he was my hero when I starting playing golf. As is the norm back home we always build up our champions and then knock them down. He was no worse and no better than Woosie. Difference is the shortcomings of Woosie were forgiven as he won!

Not having SKY I listened intently to 5Live and the excellent coverage of what was the most agonising Ryder Cup in living memory.

However it was not until I watched the highlights of all 3 days on Video Tape on Monday I saw the real difference in the teams..... Pure American Desire and passion won them the cup.

No Tiger Woods baggage to weigh them down, and at least 4 or 5 new faces in their team to build on for Celtic Manor in 2 years time. THE FIGHT IS ON.

The simple truth as I se it is that all the Americans contributed pretty evenly whereas our "Top" performers did not perform - NOT FALDO`S FAULT!! Azinger`s 4 picks all played well, and the Home town USA Golfers were galvanised.

All Welsh Golfers take note for next time!!

As for Captain for Team Europe - Keep Faldo. As the #1 Golfer of his time he totally re-vamped his game to improve his chances of winning, I can see him doing the same as captain and at the same time bringing through future Captains such as Monty, Olazabal, and Clarke as Team Europe,

Garcia, Westwood and Harrington failed to win a match all week the three stalwarts combined to go a shocking 0-7-5.

simple !

Fact Faldo is no public speaker, but for some reason couldn't tear myself away whenever he was on tv - go figure. I'm sure thats the same for most people.

Nick is a golfer, thats being fed to the wolves far to easily by a number of Journalists and for that matter the public. I still have to ask why, there was nothing wrong with the singles line up, he was half a point away from getting into those last 4 matches, as the man said only fractions separated the side, he's right. We ran them close and essentially without Garcia, Harrington, Westwood etc.

Mind and Heart says Faldo deserves another chance, as there's nothing better than winning the cup back , but feel it will go to Ian Woosman as it will only go to Wales once in his lifetime.

But Olly, Faldo and or Woosman will do. If Faldo doesn't get it fingers crossed he'll get it again in the future at somepoint.

Iain, Do you ever respond to comments on your blog? I'd be very interested to hear you respond to what I have read as a generally 'pro-Faldo' response.

I know blogs are all about opinions and of course you're entitled to yours but the stats in post 20 are startling to me and just highlight the fact that the argument about whether the big guns should have gone out earlier is rendered meaningless by how they actually performed - and for the majority of their rounds the cup was still up for grabs so you can't say they would have scored better if they had needed to.

I know perfectly well that looking at scores from matchplay is dangerous as you often feed off your opponent (why I personally love the format) but can you imagine if Harrington had played Weekley? It would have made Garcia's match look like a close one!

Also - can you tell me what this sentence actually means

"It's always easier to fashion a team when your boys are made to feel up against it. Faldo didn't seem to take account of this."

Is that a criticism that Faldo should have made his team feel up against it or are you suggesting there was someway of combatting this? At least there was no way that Faldo wasn't going to feel up against it with the constant media criticism and unnecessary personal snipes. It says a lot about the man that in all his post match interviews he has been totally gracious and also not sought to pin the blame on any of his players which must be tempting as the ONLY player in the modern era who has translated success in the majors into success in the Ryder Cup. What we needed was a few more Faldo's playing and a lot less Iain Carter's peddling the same old tired journalism.

Iain,
I haven't seen anything in the Beeb posts about Azinger's pod system of grouping guys in fours and assigning a VC to both.
He kept to it rigidly.

I would never have thought it would work, but he stuck to it and was successful.
(We'll never know if/how Zinger would've adjusted if things had gone badly of course.)

Because or despite the pod theory? What do you guys think??

It amazes me that the British press have been so hard on Faldo. Going into this Ryder Cup, Europe truly had the strongest team. What let Europe down wasn't Faldo, it was his top players. Westwood's comments about Azinger, Poulter's hot under the collar attitude because he was bumped in celebration by an American is rubish.

In all honesty, I wish that Europe had won. The Ryder Cup isn't worth our time and the sanctity that the British press deems upon it is crap anyway. As Poulter and Westwood showed, sour grapes were the norm. With the exception of Poulter, the other Euro greats failed to deliver time and again. That wasn't Faldo's fault but you can rest assured that you would have laid it to Azinger had the American side lost.

Garcia was the most civilized in loosing of any of the others. He's class, just like Faldo.

You don't want fun at these events unless you are the ones having it. If we stopped having the Ryder Cup, it wouldn't matter to a large number of people. Besides, we like Faldo doing comentary for the major events over here more than you seem to. And I have yet to see one British tabloid pay Faldo what he's paid to do commentary for the American audience. We appreciate him much more than you seem to.

It is fascinating to read so many pro Faldo views and I would like to point out my piece was intended to highlight American excellence rather than to have a go at the European captain.

For the record, I hold Nick Faldo in the highest regard and have on many occasions written that his achievements in golf have never been properly recognised in Britain.

I must also say that during the Ryder Cup he was always most co-operative and helpful when I interviewed him for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio. There was only one day in the entire week we didn't speak and I was with him in the European team room when he received the singles match ups.

I thought he got off to a great start to Ryder Cup week. As I commented at the time, his first tee get together on the opening day of practice was a brilliant idea.

I sat in on every one of his press conferences. He did well at the first two and then came apart with the sandwich list saga on the Wednesday.

By Thursday he seemed to have recovered his poise but his Opening Ceremony speech was hardly an award winner.

No matter, his picks made sense - but the opening day went against Europe.
It was vital to bounce back and this why dropping/resting Westwood and Garcia made no sense in the Saturday morning foursomes.

These were his two key players and there was a three point deficit to be overcome. The session was won, but only by a point and while Stenson and Wilson hung on well they were helped by a wayward Mickelson/Kim combo after the American pair had gone four up after six.

Foursomes would have been less demanding for an under the weather Garcia - he would not have needed to walk back to every tee and would have been on the course for a shorter period and at a cooler time of day.

Ultimately though the better team won. The US played with a spirit we haven't seen in recent matches - the kind that was for so long the hallmark of the Europeans. That spirit wasn't quite so evident this time round.

Who do we blame, the captain or the players? It is surely a combination of both, although the Americans deserve huge credit.

All I ever try to do is call it as I see it. My criticisms of Faldo have not been personal or vitriolic - merely observations from soomeone who has been covering these contests since 1993.

I was on the course with five matches from start to finish, attended the press conferences and was privy to many very informed opinions.

And my overwhelming feeling, having just returned, is that it was a privilege to witness a brilliant contest.

dear ian ,i am just a mere hacker at a computer whilst you are a pro journolist.
however do you actually realise how stupid your following statement is?

"It was vital to bounce back and this why dropping/resting Westwood and Garcia made no sense in the Saturday morning foursomes."
??????????????
really ian.
get a grip of yourself,is this the best you can do to pick fault with faldo.if faldo had followed his instincts more perhaps he would have dropped westwood and garcia a bit more .they were dropped because the were playing below their standards.dropping them on saturday morning resulted in EUROPES ONLY SESSION WIN.
even you, surely cannot fail to realise the two have to be linked.
quite suprising and frightning that a bbc sports writer cannot see what a load of tosh he has written!

There's a name I have'nt really heard mentioned when people have been discussing the next potential European Captain. I think it makes sense after a defeat to go back to someone who has had success in the job before. I think the main man with the moustache Slammin Sam Torrance should be the Captain one again.

He was a huge success at the Belfry getting all the major decisions right and I can scarcely remember a European Team that appeared to have a better spirit. Torrance is the man!

Faldo's big mistake for me was not the resting/dropping of garcia/westwood, his failure to recruit more than one vice-captain to share the load or alienate his players with his dreadful opening ceremony speech (i thought Mac D might have have smacked him one).

With 2 points seperating the teams going into finals day it was always going to be crucial to not just get off to a good start but to load the big players in the middle so they could support either an early charge or have time to readdress the balance.

Games 6,7 and 8 are always crucial in a tight ryder cup and those are the positions the westwoods, harringtons and poulters should have been playing. Hanson and Stenson are steely characters and could have handled the pressure if it came down to the final matches. The fact that the players decided this line-up shows that Faldo ran out of gas and ideas.

So what did the Ryder Cup show us? Most importantly, that it is one of the great sporting events - a true test of skill under the greatest of pressure. On a lesser note, it revealed the extent to which the British media, sadly including Iain Carter, love finding any reason to criticise Nick Faldo.

Shame as it is to let a few facts get in the way, let's start with those. Three of Faldo's primary duties are to select the wild cards, make selection decisions during the event and decide the singles order.

1. Selected Ian Poulter
Criticised endlessly by the media for doing so but selects the top points scorer in the entire event.

2. Drops Westwood and Garcia for Saturday morning. It is the only session on the first two days the European team wins.

3. Selects the team order for Sunday. Before play, it looks like we have a great chance - Sergio against a rookie to start with and good match ups to follow.

4. Three of the big European names - Westwood, Garcia and Harrington produce respectively 1, 1 and 1/2 points from 4 games each.

How do you comment on this?

1. "Yes Ian Poulter was a huge success, but how much better would it have been for the Englishman to have been persuaded to come to Gleneagles and play his way on to the team. Faldo's hand would have been significantly strengthened."

Strengthened how and with whom? How could it have been better? Other players complained of fatigue so making Poulter fly back from the States would not have helped.

2. "Even though Europe won the Saturday morning foursomes, the dropping of Garcia and Westwood remains perplexing."

If Garcia was feeling off colour tell him he'll probably play only the foursomes (after all you are only hitting half the shots), remind him he's unbeaten in this format and say we'll review the situation ahead of the afternoon picks.

Most importantly remind him that he is a vital cog in the European machine. Westwood is too much of a team man to break ranks, but resting someone who hasn't lost since 2002 because his regular partner is not feeling up to it must have hurt the proud Englishman"

Frankly, this is just drivel. English football managers are often condemned for picking players because of their reputation. Faldo drops under-performing players, the team result improves and you criticise him.

3. The singles line up is just one factor although they looked good match ups. The Americans simply played better.

I also heard your Radio 5 summary on Monday. It was more of the same. In interviewing Ian Poulter, one of your asides even implied criticism because the US had put Kim out first who was a rookie and we had not.

Fortunately, I have read the other official blog on this site which represents a far more balanced view. Based on those two blogs and your 5 live report, if anyone should hang their head in shame after this Ryder Cup, it's you.

Hi Kwini,

Paul Azinger's pod tactics are interesting but I guess we'll never really know to what extent they made the difference without sitting down and really quizzing one of the players who has experienced both systems.

For those of you who don't know what we're on about, Azinger split his team into groups of four, with a vice-captain at the head of each.

Azinger got the idea from a book he read about five years ago and vowed to use it if he ever became Ryder Cup captain.

But Jose Maria Olazabal was asked about it and pointed out that Europe has never used it - and they won the last two by record scores.

Like all these management theories, it looks clever if you win and trendy guff if you don't.

Ultimately, would the Americans have holed fewer putts if there was no pod system in operation? Doubt it.

Hi Rob,
Appreciate your thoughts. I doubt it would ever be practical for the Euros, but it's an interesting concept for the US. Speculation that Woods would have been classified in the Southern Boy group!
I think they'll invite Azinger back, whatever Corey Pavin might say.

Iain,

Thanks for responding to the comments - I know most people appreciate it!

Although I still disagree with your general points I accept the logic behind your arguments (it would afterall be boring if we all thought the same things!).

However, one sentence in your reply says it all to me and is unfortunately a reflection on lots of things - our media, the frenzy for 24 hr news and above all our sporting culture in this country. The sentence I refer to is "Who do we blame, the captain or the players?"

Why do we have to blame anybody. Nobody went out there to lose but someone has to. Most golf fans surely love the spirit and enthusiasm that Garcia brings to the game and whilst we're all disappointed in his performance I'm not blaming him - these things just happen in sport. I know that the blame game makes for easy journalism and endless articles and blogs but it becomes more like the playground and less like sports reporting every day - it was his fault - no it was his fault, he started it. ITS ONLY A GAME.

And anyway - it was Gordon Brown's fault - can't think why but give me five minutes.

Ian - I was there at Valhalla and the job the 5 live team did was amazing - the majority of the us supporters were listening to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ rather than their own channel - a testament to the entertaining and informative commentary. There were chuckles all round at the 'hair/no hair/cap wearing' story!!
As for the result, I can't see Faldo was at fault - 3 of the players didn't perform, Garcia, Westie and Harrington. Had they scored better in days 1 and 2 we would have had it in the bag in the singles. Having said that some of the americans played out of their skins - but that's what the Cup is all about.
Great congratulations to Poulter though for an outstanding performance.
And finally - a big shout out to Spooney for orchestrating the crowd on the final days tee offs - great entertainment and what memories are made of....I still don't know how he managed to go from Sunday am dj to inside the ropes at a Ryder Cup - I'll have to rethink my career!!
Jonathan

I don't wish to sound like a sycophant, but I think one or two of you are being a bit hard on Iain- he's expressing an opinion that several others share, golfers, journos and amateur fans alike. And no, I'm not a ´óÏó´«Ã½ employee in disguise!

I'd largely back Faldo's decisions but I wouldn't call anyone an 'idiot' for daring to disagree with it! And whilst Faldo's selections may have been correct (picking Poulter, leaving the ouy-of-form Westwood/Garcia out of the Saturday foursomes), Captaincy goes beyond mere decision making, and here's where teh Faldo-knockers may have a point.
You do have to wonder why the Europeans, who were most peoples' favourites on paper before the matches, came up so short? Could it be that Azinger's captaincy reached parts that Faldo's didn't, to coin a phrase? Did his oddball press conference performances turn one or two members of the team against him? Did he show favouritism to certain team members that put others off? It's not that unresonable to suggest that Faldo may have created one or two problems.
The truth probably is that Europe's defeat was down to several factors: Some of these were totally out of Faldo's control (an opposition playing inspired golf), some were slightly under his control (big name golfers not performing), and some possible problems have been reported (such as team dishormany) which if true, he had a responsibility to nip in the bud.

I think faldo is picking up a little too much flack. I feel the Captain's role is a little over played in Ryder Cup matches - nearly all the players involved are experienced sportmen, and as players of a largely individual sport, the motivation to win comes from within.

Since Poulter proved himself worthy of his place, most people seem to focus on the singles order, saying Faldo should have 'top loaded' the order. but the US team simply outscored the European team, so even if Harrington, westwood, Poulter and McDowell were played at the top of the order it is difficult to see how we would have got the 7 points needed to retain the Cup. Indeed, Harrington would not of beaten any of the Americans (Campbell was by far their worse player and would have been well beaten by everyone else bar Garcia). In addition, it would be difficult to see how any of the Europeans (with the except of Rose) would have beaten Kim, Perry and Weekly given how well they scored.

It's easy to over analyse these things - USA holed more putts and played beater golf. Some of our top guys underperformed and some of their weeker guys performed better than expected, but esencially - it was their week. In hindsight a different order or different partnerships may have made it a little closer, but a US win would still have been the result.

Iain said that: -
'America still cares about this biennial transatlantic dustup'

No they dont. I said this on numerous Beeb posts for years when the USA was losing and I still say it now that they won.
(BTW - America is a continent not a country, otherwise a Romero would have played at some point).

The USA won because they relaxed and had fun. The team was free from any burden of national expectation. They and the spectators could come to this exhibition which has no meaning in the rest of Golf, drape themselves in flags, scream and yell, ride drivers etc knowing that they had nothing to lose just like Brighton in tonight's Carling Cup.

Do not interpret the excited scenes at Valhalla as some kind of National interest. Excited Brighton fans do not indicate that Engalnd is a nation of Seagull fans.

My point here is that the Ryder Cup is just a one-off. An exciting 3 days which should continue but the competition will be better served by Brits treating it less like world peace or feed the hungry. So it does not matter what Faldo did or did not do. Are Manchester City now to be relegated to 'Blue Square' because they lost one game to Brighton? Should Mark Hughes be fired?

Come on Brits, relax, enjoy the Ryder Cup and save your passion for the real game of golf.

The context of losing to the USA is this:

a. Garcia first out in the singles. Not a good choice especially considering his singles record/final day record in majors is not the best.

b. Top loading the singles was important but in the context of the match it was lost, in my opinion, on Friday when we were three up in at least three matches and only drew or lost them. There was a tendency to fritter points away. Despite a comeback on Saturday the history book for the singles always suggested Europe were up against it.

c. Also consider that between them our top 3 players (Westwood, Garcia, Harrington) only contribute a miserly 1.5 points between. This figure based on pairing where points are halved with there partner.

Taking all these things into account the bottom line is that the US outplayed us. Boo Weekley and Kim in the singles were approximately -7 for their rounds and you cannot argue with that.

Next time round Europe can look to add Luke Donald. Poulter will be picked and his partnership with Rose was fantastic. Rose is my opinion is the best British pick to win a major.

Finally, how will Woods, fit into the picture in two years time. The US camp seemed so happy and settled. I wonder if the Tiger factor will impact on the US team dynamic.

As for the US team I reckon that it won't be that different to last weekend what do you think?

How come I can post here 24hrs x 7days but 606 goes to bed at 23:00?

Personally i am very disappointed with Lee Westwood's comments regarding the American fans and Captain Azinger. I watched all three days of the Ryder Cup and my opinion is that the Americans deserved to win as they played fantastic golf.

Lee Westwood is a professional and should behave professionally even in defeat. No wonder European golfers are not successful in America because they are bad losers. To me Lee Westwood is not a big gun in golf. Big guns should be those that have won big tournaments on both sides of the world - that is the world golf championships and majors and not tournaments in their comfort zone.
Lee Westwood please grow up and be a professional. If he was working in a commercial organisation, he should have been severely reprimanded for his comments.

1/ Europe had the better team?

2/ The Captain is picked to ensure the win?

So is the Captain partly to blame for Europe's failure? Abso-faldo-lutely he was.

I like Nick Faldo - but I hold him responsible, for whatever reason, for Europe's defeat.

It is simplistic to say 'Europe's big three did not perform' - WHY did they underperform?

Azinger created a winning mentality, and I believe that Faldo did not. He may even have created a negative mentality in some of his team. I think we may hear more detail in due course from the affected parties.

As for the gent who criticised Lee Westwood for being a 'sore loser' - were you there? - did you hear the abuse he says he was taking?

Who do you think acted more like a gentleman - Westwood or Weekley?
Personally I think Weekley behaved like a Clown as well as playing superb golf.

There may well be a place for his antics. I hope that place remains America, and I don't see Edfors cantering off the first tee or Gary Orr whooping like a gibbon.

GET OVER YOURSELF COUGAR.
of course westwood was just spouting sour grapes.weekly was a sensation all week and i saw NOTHING wrong with his actions.
faldo likewise was the captain and he must be judged by his team performance ,which was not that bad but was defo second best to the inspired yanks.
how faldo was ment to 'create a winning mentality'in your words is beyond me.your either good enough or you are not.!
infact inspite of some very clever decisions by faldo his team were never going to be good enough to win this time.the americans were as good as any ryder cup team i can ever remember,the knocked out pins and holed everthing.!
stop making scapegoats and show some humility by congradulating the superb US team!

Mcstay/whatever your name is

you saw nothing wrong with Weekley's actions - ? - you are not a golfer are you? Westwood saw and heard plenty that was wrong and Weekley was told to tone it down by his Captain and that is good enough for me. Following this the crowd was on Lee's back and abuse was the result.

In one line you say 'the inspired Yanks' and then you question how Faldo was meant to create a winning mentality.

Maybe by inspiring his team, in a similar way to Azinger would have helped. Maybe by having experienced, respected leiutenants apart from Olly to share the responsibility - D J Russell rather than D J Spoony.

I cannot think of a worse example of poor motivational skills than the Captain telling his most experienced player half way through his match (he was 2 up at the time, and was one game short of a record number of consecutive appearances) - that he was dropped for the afternoon matches.

I am not saying it was a bad decision, but it was typically insensitive of Nick to go about it in that way.

'Your either good enough or you are not' you declare, and

'his team was never going to be good enough to win this time.'

What a load of rubbish - Europe were rightly the favourites to win, based on world rankings, recent history and the amazing team spirit that has characterised Europe's team in the last 3 matches.

Where was the team spirit? Something was not the same as in previous Cups - it is up to the Captain to engender that team ethic and get them in the right frame of mind. In my opinion Nick Faldo failed in this respect.

Even with a fully functioning, revved-up European team, the Americans may still have won - it was good to see them competing so fiercely again. I hope it is a different story in 2010.