Mickelson vs. Watson Still In The Discovery Stage?

The spat between legendary Hall of Famers hasn't really subsided after Bob Harig's story outlined details of Tom Watson's unusual Ryder Cup behavior, with more unflattering details appearing in Jim McCabe and Alex Miceli's reporting. And yet the analysis feels like it's just scratching the surface.

John Hawkins wonders how "perhaps the greatest wind-and-rain golfer ever turn into such an accountability-dodging curmudgeon amid a foul-weather team atmosphere?" He also concludes that "Watson’s inability to cope with his team’s shortcomings amounts to a much larger and less excusable failure, a catastrophic breach of conduct by a guy who obviously knows better."

Tim Rosaforte talked with Morning Drive's Damon Hack Saturday about Tom Watson's Ryder Cup captain situation and revealed that Phil Mickelson had started bending PGA of America presidents ear at the Scottish Open about Watson's communication style as far back as June when Mickelson had been unsuccessful in talking to the Captain.

Jaime Diaz noted in his Golf World analysis that it’s telling “that as of Sunday, not one player or even assistant captain has publicly come to Watson’s defense” and also points out that the Europeans, while not thrilled with certain captaincies of late, have never broken ranks like the Americans did at Gleneagles and since.

Going forward John Barton thinks Steve Stricker has the makings of a successful captain based on this chart  capain's who are humble and who cares "deeply for his players and who isn't blinded by the size of his own ego" will be successful.

If you plot the 15 American and European skippers since 1985 on a graph, with passion on one axis and humility on the other, it's clear that the humble, passionate men generally win (McGinley, Olazabal, Woosnam, Langer, Torrance, Crenshaw, Stockton), while detached captains with big egos always lose (Watson, Faldo, Nicklaus, Trevino).

I talked with Gary Williams about how the generational gap was going to be an issue all along and also chatted about future captain's and it's hard to see an easier choice than Paul Azinger to commence a forthcoming era of continuity and with just a bit more structure. But as I pointed out, not too much. We wouldn't want to appear as desperate as the other guys!

A golf.com poll of Mickelson vs. Watson ended in a landslide at 694 votes, with Mickelson taking 80% of the votes.