Harrington a huge disappointment

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DeclanP

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Having sat through the Ryder Cup for the weekend, I have come to the conclusion that Padraig Harrington could not be mentioned in the same breath as Tiger Woods. Okay, so he won two majors this year which was a great achievement and few in the world could achieve such heights but he let Europe down in the Ryder Cup. He complained of exhaustion and being tired! Huh? He has played a handful of tournaments since his last major win and most of those ended after two rounds. And then he complains of being tired. He along with Westwood, Casey, Jimenez and expecially Garcia were brutal. It was a terrible performance from Europe and what really annoyed was Westwood whining about being given a hard time by the American fans. Grow up, man, that is what the game is all about. Hopefully none of the aforementioned will be in Celtic Manor in two years time when the European Tour should put on show its younger talent.
 
No dear, Paudrig was the only one who suffered from a malfunction over the weekend. Not even a jacket could cover up the fact that he was truly awful.
 
Well for a start Woods doesn't cover himself in glory on ryder cup duty either and the fact that they lost this tournament does not make same players useless. Harrington has played alot lately and all the while he has suffered from injury and I would have thought that mental exhaustion would be why he was tired more than physical.
Regards the behaviour of fans, being shouted at and urged to miss whilst teeing off would have an effect on most people when the crowd shouting is of the size that the europeans encountered I'm sure it must be all the more disconcerting. I'm not a golf fanatic but I do enjoy the ryder cup and the simple fact this time was the better team one and no repurcussions are needed.
 
The principal reasons for Europe's success in this event in the last few years has been the unity of the team and the morale of the team room.

This year, the US team were out socialising on the night before the first day's play while the Europe team were under curfew.

The 2 principal reasons for the lack of success are .
  1. Nick
  2. Faldo
By the way, if the OP is inferring that PH has being 'working' just 2 days per week since he won the USPGA, that inference is invalid. There is a lot more to fill the diary of a top Tour professional than being on a course.
 
The 2 principal reasons for the lack of success are .
  1. Nick
  2. Faldo
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Agree. Faldo was an awful captain. He lost to what was probably the weakest USA team in years. Should have been a rout in favour of Europe. What I particularly dont like is that he was arrogant enough to pick two of his fellow countrymen as the captains picks even though, based on European Tour rankings, neither player deserved to be on the team. Thought that USA team was so weak, that he could afford to bring a couple of weak golfers from his own country instead of the best available. His poor decisions, which no doubt upset the European camp, ensured that the European team was chasing a losing battle against a motivated USA team instead of leading the tournament form start to finish.
 
Except Poulter turned out to be our best golfer over the three days.
 
MrMan said:
Except Poulter turned out to be our best golfer over the three days.
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Exactly.
He was completely justified in that selection.

His decision of putting the big guns out last on the final day was very dodgy though.

Given that they were behind, he really should have tried to get the points on the board as early as possible on the sunday.
 

Absolute BS - completely disagree with all of this. His two picks were the two I would have picked as well - Monty is woefully out of form and Clarke didn't deserve a place either - Poulter is way ahead in the world rankings and was there on merit - as proved by his 4 points over the weekend. Why do people need a scapegoat or someone to blame? Plain and simple the US team played better, end of. Even so it still was in the balance until late enough in the day and was still a good competition. Why don't you look at the actual performances instead of spouting crap like this? In the crunch matches Kim was -5 for 14 holes, Perry -7 for 16, Weekly -8 for 16 - phenomenal scoring no matter what way you look at it. Is Faldo to blame for that?
 
Its difficult to say how the team dynamics were changed by the picks. Looking at the body language and performanced over the week, its clear that some of the Europeans were not exactly motivated to play for Faldo. Casey wasnt even ranked in the top 20 in Europe. Just think how demotivating this is for the rest, who worked hard to get onto the team and expected to be joined on the team by the best golfer available. Not knocking Casey personally - he didnt ask to be picked and did his best & given that him & Poulter were the two wildcards, they were motivated to prove that they deserved their places.

Monty is woefully out of form and Clarke didn't deserve a place eitherMonty is woefully out of form and Clarke didn't deserve a place either
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They werent the next best available. Picking them on past reputation rather than current form would also be a mistake.

Why do people need a scapegoat or someone to blame?
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Thats the nature of sport. If you have the best team and lose, then you should take the blame. It wasnt a lucky US victory, they whipped the Europeans. There's no charity in professional sport.

Even so it still was in the balance until late enough in the day
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I disagree. It was clear very early on Sunday that it was all over. By the time the final pairings teed off, the Europeans were chasing a long shot.
 
csirl said:
Thats the nature of sport. If you have the best team and lose, then you should take the blame. It wasnt a lucky US victory, they whipped the Europeans. There's no charity in professional sport.
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Again we disagree. Just how do you determine the Europeans were the best team? The US scores over the weekend were much better so their victory was on merit, not down to any mistake by Faldo. Who exactly would you have picked as wildcards? And if you choose purely based on the European order of merit then what is the point of wildcards, why not just have the top 12 qualify? And finally this notion that you have to blame someone for one team simply playing better than the other is just nonsense, there is no logic to it. It's sport remember, not business - we don't need to find a scapegoat for a loss!!
 
Ceist Beag said:
we don't need to find a scapegoat for a loss!!
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Suppose Europe had won ? Faldo would be taking all of the credit ahead of the individual contributions of players or assistants. If you take credit for the sun, you have to take the blame for the rain too

Anyway, Faldo being such a thoroughly dislikeable person, he is a ready scapegoat.
 

He had a bad weekend of golf and was beaten. So what? No one plays to 100% perfection at all times. 100% victory isn't gauranteed in any sport.
I would say that most European golfers would swap there season with his.

However, I think you are being unfair with your comment that "He left Europe down". Give the guy a break.

Europe lost a game of golf to the Yanks after winning the last 3 times and they will play again in 2 years time.
Cop onto yourself.
 
TarfHead said:
Suppose Europe had won ? Faldo would be taking all of the credit ahead of the individual contributions of players or assistants.
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You know that do ye? Alright so he ain't exactly Mr Popular but he deserves better than the crap he's getting in the press over this, you would think Europe had a divine right to win the thing, the arrogance of it all!
 
I don't know it to be true, cos it is an hypothesis rolleyes, but I believe it to be plausible. That belief is based on Faldo's past behaviour as a player, and by the cack-handed way he 'managed' the team this year.
 
Who exactly would you have picked as wildcards? And if you choose purely based on the European order of merit then what is the point of wildcards, why not just have the top 12 qualify?
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Wildcards were intended for the following situations:

1. European players who play on the US tour full time and so would not be ranked high on the European order of merit.

2. A player who missed a lot of time injured earlier in the season, but is now fully fit and is clearly a better golfer than the 11th & 12th on order of merit.

3. If the difference between e.g. the 12th and 13th ranked player is very little and the 13th ranked player has a past history of winning Ryder Cup matches and the 12th doesnt, so picking the 13th makes sense.

If none of the above, or any other similar exceptions apply in any given year, then the 11th & 12th on order of merit should be chosen. I dont think the wildcards were ever intended to be used to reach way down the order of merit without good reason.

It's sport remember, not business
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Golf is business - this is big money pro sport.


If, as captain you pick the best team available and your preparations and tactics ensure that the team plays well, then the captain cannot be blamed for a loss. But, when you dont pick the best team (regardless of how well your picks play) and half your players are going through the motions due to problems in the camp caused by your persona, then if you lose, you deserve the critism.
 
csirl said:
Wildcards were intended for the following situations:
<load of reasons seemingly invented by csirl>
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Rubbish. Wildcards are the captains choice of who they would like on the team that did not automatically qualify, simple as that. Not sure where you came up with your logic csirl.

csirl said:
Golf is business - this is big money pro sport.
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Give it a rest will ya, next you'll be looking for an AGM so we can all demand explanations from the captain as to why the team lost! BTW who are considered shareholders, punters who lost a bet, those who paid good money to go and are demanding answers now the team lost? Sheesh!

The only reason I can see that Faldo is getting so much crap (and is backed up by Tarfhead's reasoning) is that he isn't the most likeable fella so is an easy target for blame.
 
But, when you dont pick the best team (regardless of how well your picks play) and half your players are going through the motions due to problems in the camp caused by your persona, then if you lose, you deserve the critism.
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If that is the case then it is the players that deserve the criticism as they are supposedly playing for europe and its fans not just their captain.

Golf is business - this is big money pro sport.
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The players get big money but the fans still love it because its sport, no fan watches simply for the joy in knowing that the winner will be a millionaire if he makes the putt.
 
The Ryder cup is a difficult format to single out individual players as being good/bad because the first two days involve foursomes and fourballs. Regarding the Sunday singles the whole event was over after Furyk beat Jiménez in Match 8 since that brought the US to 14.5 points. The remaining four matches, three of the four of which were very close and finished on 17, involving McDowell / Cink, Poulter / Stricker, Westwood / Curtis and Harrington /Cambell were irrelevant. The results of these matches may well have been different if they had counted. We neede to win 7 of the 12 singles to retain the cup but we didn't because the US players played better, much better in some cases. As regards Faldo as captain the guy deserved his chance for being the most successful major winner from Europe and the most successful Ryder cup player in History..................but I still can't stand him .
 
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