The sports manager and former professional golfer believes USA's Ryder Cup captain could pick himself and hand the reins over to Tiger Woods.
How do you think the European team is shaping up for the Ryder Cup?
Team Europe nearly picks itself, I think. You could probably name nine now.
Justin Rose will get in I think. He’s worth it because he’ll be great in the locker room. He’s great as a partner for a young guy. He’s Steady Eddie. They won’t miss him out. I don’t think you’re going to get many surprises off Luke. You know how he thinks.
Hovland’s 10, isn’t he? The one I thought was going to get in but he’s disappeared is Norgaard. You thought he was going to end the Ryder Cup. That’s what happened. It’s called Ryder Cup-itis. I had a few cases of that.
It looks like Matt Fitzpatrick’s game is on the up again?
A little bit. I think making himself 25 yards longer probably has hurt him a bit. That’s a lot. That’s a big length increase, and somewhere along the line you’ll have lost something, whether it be the feel with the putter or feel with the chipping or iron shots, or whatever. But I don’t think you can gain 25 yards without losing something somewhere. I don’t think he was ever quite as good as everybody thought he was. Including himself, maybe. He might get in and he might not, and I think the next six weeks will decide that. I think he’ll take a view on how he goes through the playoffs. You played well in those playoffs; it’s a big deal. So he’s got The Open and the playoffs to go to get himself in it, hasn’t he?
Can Team Europe win it?
I don’t think Team Europe will win. But the USA are not big favourites.
I think the fact that everybody thinks we’ve got a great team and we’ll win actually heaps of pressure on our guys, and it’ll be awful. I’ve been to Bethpage twice and it is awful. The crowds, it’s like playing at The Den every week. It’s awful.
It’ll go over the top, for sure. It’s only a 20-minute train ride from the middle of New York. It’ll be a nightmare. I keep meeting people saying, “are you going to the Ryder Cup?” I say, I’m not. Why are you not going? I said, because it won’t be pleasant.
It’s because it’s a sports fans’ thing. It’s because the Ryder Cup is like a baseball game. It’s not like a golf game. You think of what they’re like even when they’re trying to behave.
I think you’ll find that the wives and families will get abused. That nearly always happens every time in America. It’ll be intense and it’ll be partisan. Nothing else. They’re not gonna invade the pitch or anything.
And they’ll turn against the Americans if it goes wrong.
Will Luke Donald be basing his picks off finding players who can cope with that?
I think that’s why somebody like Rose is impossible to leave out because he knows what it’s like. He’s been there, he’s done it. He’ll be alright. But I’m not sure a young gun would find it as easy.
Tyrrell Hatton? It won’t bother him. He’ll tell them to eff off. Literally, almost. He’ll be fine. Rahm will be fine. In the States, in the US Open, he hangs around, doesn’t he? He’s only finished out of the top 10 once in the LIV tour. I think he’s a cert.
Hovland is a cert too, I think, because he’s popular. With Donald, more than anything. It’s not very exciting, I think, because it nearly picks itself.
Rory seems to tap into that pressure at the Ryder Cup, so could it actually spur Europe on?
Yeah, to a certain degree. It will. But it’ll be hard because they will be in their faces all the time. You hit it to the side of the road, and it’ll be unpleasant.
Standing on the balls and stuff like that, it’s catered for in the rules and stuff. That’ll be fine. These days in professional golf, they can’t wait to let the golfer get the ball in his hands anyway.
Are you surprised that Keegan Bradley is now being tipped as a player-captain?
It all seemed a bit hasty, didn’t it, when they picked him? They didn’t think Tiger Woods was going to say no, so they suddenly picked a guy that is way too young to be Ryder Cup captain. He’s probably 10 years too young. And certainly didn’t consider him playing and he obviously in his head never ever thought he wouldn’t play.
So he’s accepted the job, but actually in his head he thinks, “I’ll make up for the last time, I’ll get in,” so they’ve got a terrible problem.
My guess is they know what’s gonna happen there. My guess is that they know he’s gonna pick himself, and they know he’s gonna give it over to a vice captain or Tiger or whatever it is. They must have a plan. They can’t be that stupid not to have a plan already.
You can’t play. Definitely not. Just too much of everything. Can you imagine him coming down the 12th, trying to decide to leave Jordan Spieth out or something like that? You can’t do that. I think then he wants some sort of guarantee that he was going to be captain next time.
They’ve handled it terribly, haven’t they? It’s absolutely bonkers because he’s as tough as old boots, you know, Keegan. He’s as tough as they come. He’s the kind of player and captain you need. He’s both. He’s a tough guy.
He could have too many people in his ear. If he’s captain without playing, he’s not a problem because he’ll be able to control that. He’ll have that sorted. You might even think Gary Woodland would be a good captain, and he’s come in as the last pick. Maybe that’s why he’s in, I don’t know. I don’t know what they think. But he certainly can’t do both, and he certainly will play. If he plays the last six weeks, then he’s got to play.
How much time does a captain need if they are going to switch it?
Probably at the end of the playoffs is alright. They’ll work that out. It’ll be fine. But it’s just a mess, though, isn’t it? That’s one of the biggest things that Europe have got going for them, is that that’s going on.
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