| Tom Watson will captain the 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup team. (US Presswire) |
It might come as a surprise to many that the PGA of America named Tom Watson the 2014 Ryder Cup captain on Thursday morning. But look at the last nine Ryder Cup results, and it isn’t that surprising.
Since Watson last captained a Ryder Cup team in 1993, the United States has gone 2-7 against its European counterparts. And if Jerry Jones owned the U.S. Ryder Cup teams, he would have fired all of the captains because we know 2-7 isn’t acceptable in Jerry World.
The United States can’t afford to keep losing to Europe, especially in embarrassing fashion like it did in 2012 on its home turf when, on the final day, the Americans blew a 10-6 lead. If the United States doesn't lose the lead on Saturday at Medinah, Watson probably isn't the 2014 captain.
As new Eye on Golf blogger Kyle Porter points out, the United States has only won two Ryder Cups on European soil since 1980. Watson played on one and captained the other.
That’s why naming Watson is the first major shakeup in the U.S. captain selection process in the last 30 years and is a good thing. Previously, the PGA of America always selected a captain who had won major championships and was still active on the PGA Tour.
He’ll change the attitude of the Americans heading to Scotland in two years.
Tom Watson's message to the U.S. team on the first day of the 1993 Ryder Cup: "Remember, everything that they invented, we perfected."
— Mike O'Malley (@GD_MikeO) December 12, 2012
Watson won the Kansas City Match Play Championship at 14, but he made the United Kingdom his kingdom, winning five British Open titles in a 10-year span. Four of Watson’s five British Open titles came in Scotland, and the 2014 Ryder Cup is being played in Scotland. It’s a perfect place for Watson to lead the Americans.
It’s also nearly impossible to forget Watson’s heartbreaking loss at the 2009 British Open at Turnberry, when Watson missed a par putt on the 72nd hole and then lost in a four-hole playoff to Stewart Cink.
The United States needed a change in its Ryder Cup fortunes, and Watson is the guy to change those fortunes in Scotland.
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