Mickleson 192nd of 193 in driving accuracy on PGA Tour

compounded that error by picking him to play foursomes

That's an interesting point Donny, logic is that Phil would be better used in fourball, but Phil drove from the first, so in theory would only need to hit his driver 3 or maximum of 4 times, I think the other thing that maybe swayed them into doing what seemed so wrong was that both he and Bryson play with a draw, but with one being lefthanded playing the way they did gave them correct shape shot on 15/16 holes.

Could have taken the even numbers and got 3 of the 4 par 3's and still only 3 or 4 drivers, but the then both players would be playing unsuitable holes for them.

My home course was excellent for our team matches as it hid my weakness perfectly, which was that I was such a short hitter but by taking the odds I got to play 3 par 3's and the drive on the 3 shortest par 4's on the course, another par 4 where you had to lay up at corner of dogleg, just left 2 par 4's that where long and a 4 on those two would probably win you the hole half the time.

And I just loved playing from up too 100 yards further up the fairway than I normally would have

USA would not have been good enough anyway regardless of the phil pick. would xander have done much better? I doubt it.

but still, I think if phil hadn't had that good start to the season by winning in mexico then he would have been nowhere near the team. by the time the ryder cup came around, it was clear he was hopelessly out of form.

strange that furyk made his first three wild cards straight away and then waited on finau, who was in much better form that phil for most of the season. hardly a ringing endorsement of the big man either.

I think in future USA captains will do well to think much more in terms of form and less in terms of star names.

Given that Phil was playing poorly , and with advancing age factor , picking him was a huge gamble .  It failed miserably .

Who would you pick instead of Phil ?  Maybe the USA strength in depth is not as deep as some think . The bias in world rankings because of the dominance of the US Tour skews the whole process in my book  , making the USA run of the mill pros look better than they are , particularly in the heat of a Ryder Cup.

Jim Furyk's picks let him down , Bjorn's did us proud .

nice trebor, our course was more balanced, but 3 and 5 were shortish par 3s, so
quite a tough start either way for foursomes, and good to pick a partner you liked!


i think finau would have been 3rd pick had bryson not won two weeks on eve of announcement.

then he would have been better picking zach johnson, as no4 pick


ryder cup is rather tagged into the end of usa season, then travel half way
round the world. seems also that there are a few americans that dont enjoy
each others company. tireness just going to magnify that.

surely players who've got some chance of keeping it on the fairway most of the time for an away match would be a decent start ? as we've seen form on the pitch and putt courses in the states counts for very little

with hindsight the US picks turned out to be a disaster don't think 3 of them got a point.

The team had a lot of big bombers and Furyk should probably have balanced the team out with some solid ball strikers. Zach, Kuchar, Kyle Stanley, Billy Horschel etc may have been a better bet.

i would have been looking at Horschel and Bradley as picks-as stated by others Zach and Kuchar wouldnt have let the US down and would definitely have played better than those selected.

Horscel especially must be spewing-in prime form and his accuracy stats right up there