Captain Watson: "The way it played out at the end with Phil making the comments that probably should have been made in a private room."
/Tom Watson has been pretty quiet about the 2014 Ryder Cup and ensuing fallout (task force!). But visiting St. Andrews this week to promote a British Golf Museum exhibition of five of his Open trophies, he opened up a bit more about various key decisions and most intriguingly, the falling out with Phil Mickelson. Perhaps trying to get put the entire cup to bed so that Open week will be all about saying goodbye to the event that defined his career.
The Herald's Jim Black with Watson's extensive Ryder Cup comments, including this...
"It was disappointing, but we got beat by the better team. Our team played its heart out, and, after getting off to a great start on the Sunday, if they had continued along that path we could have been right there at the end.
"But the European team responded in the singles matches and when your team is 56 shots higher, you don't expect to win. The European team played better than we did.
"The bottom line is that I made the decisions based on the best information at the time and I had the support of my vice captains. We made collective decisions on who was going to play with whom."
He did lament overplaying Jimmy Walker of all his decisions. I'm not sure that was the clarity we were seeking but hey, it's a regret!