Casey Shuns European Ryder Cup Chances For America, Family

He'll be blasted and no doubt treated like a leper by some on the European side, but Paul Casey has been fairly consistent throughout the saga about his desire to stay closer to his new home, new family and to protect a career that has gone sideways once before.

Still, the decision to stick with the PGA Tour and not play enough European Tour events to be eligible to play at the 2016 Ryder Cup is clearly not sitting well with Captain Darren Clarke.

From Ewan Murray's Guardian report:

“It is obvious that representing Europe in the Ryder Cup is not on Paul’s priority list, which is disappointing, but I wish him all the best for the future,” Clarke said.

“For me the focus is firmly on the players who are committed to the European cause as we move towards Hazeltine and I look forward to working with these players over the next 10 months.”

Brrrr...who says the planet is getting warmer?

McGinley Also Baffled By Team USA's Early Vice Captain Picks

In an appearance with Sky during the Race to Dubai final, winning 2014 Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley was understandably baffled by the baffling Team USA decision to announce three active(ish) players as Vice Captains for the 2016 Ryder Cup to go with Tom Lehman (previously announced).

Ryan Lavner at GolfChannel.com transcribes McGinley's comments that included an assumption that this was a task force-related move, but it oddly establishes Woods as a ceremonial golfer for the time being and announces Jim Furyk as a maybe, even though he is one of America's best players.

“But I’m surprised that they’ve done it so early. Normally, in Europe, we might announce one or two vice captains well in advance, but we don’t really until the 11th hour. We give everyone the best chance they have of making the team.”

McGinley pointed to Jim Furyk, who turns 46 in May but is still one of the Americans’ best players. Furyk won his first tournament since 2010 at the RBC Heritage, was one of the top contenders for the FedEx Cup before a wrist injury, and currently sits 10th in the Ryder Cup points standings. He has a 10-20-4 record in nine appearances in the biennial event.

“Is his mind going to be swayed by the fact that he was announced early as a vice captain?” McGinley said. “We’re going to have to wait and see. But it is a bit strange.”

Love said the move was made because the captain and his team have to "get to work."

You know, fitting each Vice Captain for a cart, an IFB so that they can hear all back channel chats and, of course, learning how to drive a cart carrying four instead of the usual two.

Rory Says What Most Are Thinking About Tiger Shifting To A Ryder Cup Driving Role

Talking after his opening round in the Race To Dubai finale, Rory McIlroy naturally wonders about Tiger's physical well-being if the legendary golfer is already committing himself to cart shuttling duties instead of leaving open the possibility that the 40-year-old-to-be could make the team.

From an unbylined Belfast Telegraph wire story:

Told of the news after his opening round in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, a visibly surprised McIlroy said: " I don't know what to think about that, I really don't.

"It's great that he wants to help the US team in any way that he can, and if that's not in a playing capacity, then as a vice-captain. Just sort of makes me think what really his health is like and how he feels like he's going to come back from that.

" I'd rather see him on the course at Hazeltine but if not, at least he'll be there and it will be a good addition for them."

Despite His Driving Record, Tiger Lands Assistant Ryder Cup Gig

Shady insider politics were no doubt in play as a member of the two-time-convening Ryder Cup Task Force, Tiger Woods, was named as part of Davis Love’s first wave of 2016 assistant Cup Captains.

Bob Harig says this shows Tiger cares, which is probably true. Though I’d lean more towards the “cares about still getting checks from Nike” division. Whereas Harig believes this is a statement about Woods’ feelings for the Ryder Cup.

That Woods is willing to take a subservient role at this point sends a message of allegiance. Taking drink orders and offering tidbits of wisdom might not seem like Woods' style, but that is what he has signed up to do.

And shuttling WAGs to the 17th tee...

Though I’m not sure I’d jump in a four-seat cart with a man who crashed an Escalade.

Captain Love also handed cart keys to Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker who join already-named asst. Captain Tom Lehman. It’s unclear whether he intends to have any more assistant captains in the inevitable push toward every Ryder Cupper having their own cart driver masquerading as an assistant captain.

Speaking of the swelling list of cart drivers, Doug Ferguson explains the thinking this way:

The five vice captains would allow one of them to be with each match during the team sessions, with another that Love described as a ”floater.” Last year at Gleneagles, European captain Paul McGinley had one of his assistants with the players who sat out some of the team sessions.

None of this really matters as Forbes says Tiger is worth $700 million and narrowly made the magazines’ 40 Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 list. 

Minnesota Balking At Trade Outs For Extra Ryder Cup Security

AP’s Brian Bakst has obtained emails, notes and other documents that demonstrate a wariness by Minnesota state officials.

It seems--shocking as this may seem--they are weary of putting up as much as $2 million worth of security overtime and other costs related to the Ryder Cup in exchange for private chalets or other promotional considerations.

Although their efforts fell short — the Legislature concluded its session after passing a budget without any money for the prestigious tournament — organizers are expected to continue to push for state assistance before next year's event.

Their pitch — detailed in a private meeting held days before lawmakers adjourned their 2015 legislative session — ran from $600,000 to $2 million depending on the state's involvement and willingness to absorb security costs. Potential benefits would range from the use of a private chalet for tourism and business promotion to Minnesota-themed ads run on international TV to hundreds of event tickets.

Wraparound Blues: Ryder Cup Refusal Edition

Twenty-four hours later, the one shocker of the Ryder Cup news conference continues to be the decision to pronounce the PGA Tour's wraparound schedule non-conducive to creating a Cup team.

Thanks to reader Tim for highlighting Phil Mickelson's answer to the question.

Q. Why the switch from just strict money that Azinger had installed to counting them as points?

PHIL MICKELSON: I'll take that. Because it was very confusing when the Tour, after having players play major championships, the PGA, the World Golf Championships and the FedEx Cup, who then played nine out of 11 weeks, let's say, then stopped, the Tour's next season starts a week later. If you count money for those last three or four months, you're giving the bottom half of the Tour a three month head start over ultimately the top guys. So you wanted to start that money in 2015 but the Money List on the PGA Tour list starts in September or October. So it was getting confusing. That's why we ended up with the points system of points per $1,000 or $2,000 made.

Just last week at Riviera Bubba Watson talked about pretending the fall events in the year-round PGA Tour calendar do not exist and that he schedules accordingly.

In light of the Ryder Cup switch, it would seem the wraparound is about one bullet from losing any relevance it might have had (remember, Rory and Tiger are required to play this fall's Frys.com, but after that they'll never be seen there again).

If the Masters no longer granted exemptions to post-playoff event winners, the fall schedule could lose even more relevance. Nothing against those fine events, of course. Not their fault the schedule is bloated.