“It’s tough because it’s kind of the third time this has happened,” Nelson said, referring to the ’95 and ’97 captaincies. “It seemed to gather more momentum this year than possibly in the past. I’m certainly appreciative of the thousands of people who tweeted or sent me emails who were hoping this might be the time.
“I’m flattered, certainly disappointed. I don’t know why the decision was made the way it was, but you just have to honor that.”
This will add to the team room fun should Tom Watson be named 2014 Ryder Cup Captain on Thursday, as Tim Rosaforte reports. Because, after all, Watson will likely helm a squad including Tiger Woods barring an unforseen, fall 2014 flare-up in his Achilles!
“I feel that he has not carried the same stature that other great players that have come along like Jack (Nicklaus), Arnold (Palmer), Byron Nelson, the Hogans, in the sense that there was language and club throwing on the golf course,” said Watson, a playoff loser to Stewart Cink at last year’s British Open. “You can grant that of a young person that has not been out here for a while. But I think he needs to clean up his act and show the respect for the game that other people before him have shown.”
At the 2010 U.S. Open when they shared the tenth tee together. Karen Crouse wrote:
As they waited to hit, neither Watson nor Woods exchanged glances, much less niceties, their cold shoulders turning the tee into an outdoor icebox. The distance between them was accentuated when the golfer Jason Gore made his way to the hole and received a warm hello and a hug from Woods who, like Watson, has won a United States Open here. Standing between Woods and Watson like a buffer was another Stanford golfer, Joseph Bramlett, who was playing with his childhood idol, Woods, two days after going through graduation ceremonies. It was three generations of Cardinal golfing royalty sharing a moment that could have been captured only by the widest of wide-angle lenses.
“His life is a lot more complicated now. He doesn’t hear that absolute silence when he’s playing, and he mentioned when he’s playing his best he hears nothing,” the American eight-times major winner told a news conference on Wednesday. “I’m sure there are things going on in his mind that make it very difficult for him.”
GolfDigest.com's Ron Siraklooks back at Tom Watson's captaincy after reports surfaced in which Watson did not emphatically shoot down speculation on a 2014 captaincy.
Sirak reminds the unusual decision to not sign a Sam Torrance dinner menu and Watson's lack of attendance at subsequent Ryder Cups, and, well, a 2014 captaincy is not happening even though Sirak thinks it would be a positive.
Sirak also says a decision on 2014 could be announced as soon as next week.
In the highly politicized battle for the 2014 Ryder Cup captaincy, Bernie McGuire quotes Monty as suggesting some players--well, David Howell and Richard Finch--might vote for fellow ISM management stablemate Darren Clarke over former presumed favorite Paul McGinley.
Monty said: “Both Paul and Darren would be suitable. Let’s hope that when the vote is taken there are those in the room voting for a player and not a fellow management client."
Karl MacGinty of the Irish Independent slips in some fun details about the cutthroat battled to be Europe's next Ryder Cup Captain while endorsing Paul McGinley for the 2014 job.
Meantime, reporters at last week's BMW Masters in Shanghai were advised before Clarke's pre-tournament press conference that he would not be taking any questions on the Ryder Cup captaincy. Wise move.
And the endorsement of McGinley...
The Ryder Cup is the financial powerhouse which drives European golf, so one understands why the Tour executives might consider it vital to have someone of Clarke's charisma to focus support in the run-up to a home match.
Yet the staggering atmosphere at Medinah showed how irresistible the Ryder Cup has become to the corporate sector and golf fans, making it utterly futile to waste one of the most naturally gifted team captains Europe is likely to produce.
An excerpt from Darren Clarke's autobiography provides a glimpse into his life of excess, and a possible warning side for a clothes fetish that could prove ugly when he gets his way and becomes 2014 Ryder Cup captain.
One thing that has been a constant throughout my career and for most of my life is that when it comes to shopping and spending, I have few rivals. My excesses often have to be seen to be believed.
If I said I once bought 60 pairs of Calvin Klein underpants, would you believe me? Didn’t think so, but I did. Or 40 pairs of trousers on the same day from the same shop? Yes, I did. Or thirty belts? Yes, that’s me. I’ve had 15 Ferraris, three Lamborghinis and an assortment of Jags, Bentleys, Mercedes, BMWs and Porsches. The most cars I’ve ever had at once was seven and I’ll admit that was a little excessive. I’m more sensible now.
It’s a fait accompli anyway if you believe Her Majesty’s Press and one that will prove “popular with club golfers up and down the land, who identify with Clarke’s obvious struggles with his volcanic temperament on the course and his love of a pint off it.”
If that’s the case, so much for the transparency of the selection process, the opinion of the Tournament Players Committee and the general intelligence level of the sporting public, who have surely learned to see beyond the comic cut caricature of Clarke’s public persona.
Clarke, McGinley and captaincy candidates Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez are also members of that august Committee alongside Colin Montgomerie, Felipe Aguilar, Paul Casey, Gonzalo Fernandez Castaño, Richard Finch, Joakim Haeggman, David Howell, Robert Karlsson, Barry Lane or Henrik Stenson.
Perhaps they’ve all agreed already that there really is just one man for the job given Clarke’s inexorable slide into irrelevance as a player since he captured the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St George’s.
And...
It’s not that Clarke would be poor but is he really a better candidate for the job that McGinley who led two understrength GB&I teams to Seve Trophy victories and played a blinder as a vice-captain in 2010 and this year. It’s certainly debatable and that the European Tour could come to a decision less than two weeks after the Meltdown at Medinah is truly remarkable.
Paul Mahoneytweeted the new William Hill 2014 Ryder Cup captaincy odds and even better, Clarke Tweeted a Montyesque "the rumors are not entirely true but I really hope they are."
The decision will be made in January. Supposedly.
To clarify..I have not been offered the Ryder Cup captaincy.It's not decided by the committee until January.Would be a huge honour if asked.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
