"He has played six matches in his two appearances and won once."

Even picking Chad Campbell over Rocco or Woody could not excite the scribblers. They clearly are feeling sorry for Captain Azinger, and you can't blame him for being "subdued" as Bob Harig noted in running through the choices and considering the Captain's options.

Gary Van Sickle writes, "you didn't think Paul Azinger was going to let Nick Faldo one-up him when it came to making surprising wild-card picks, did you?" Then Van Sickle goes on to say Azinger pretty much had no choice but to pick the four he selected.

Tim Rosaforte sums up the misery best:

While Nick Faldo had five obvious contenders for his two picks, the general consensus coming in over the weekend was that Zinger had no players for four picks, with even rookie Kevin Streelman jumping into the late mix.

Steve Elling says there was one bright spot to the funeral:

...in the moments before Azinger announced his four captain's picks, officials scrambled to replace a press release that listed the veterans who had already qualified for the team as having compiled a combined career record of 18-334-15 in the matches. No question, after losing five of the last six cups, the American anchor men have failed, but not quite to that spectacular degree.

John Hopkins wasn't quite so kind about the Campbell selection, point out that he has "a dire Ryder Cup record. He has played six matches in his two appearances and won once."

But Brian Hewitt finds a bright spot, if there was one:

American Ryder Cup players occupy seven of the first 11 and nine of the first 14 spots in the point standings. Those numbers speak directly to the importance of current form especially in light of the criticism that not one of the six 12 members on the American squad with Ryder Cup experience have winning career records in the event.