Davis Love III will return as captain for the 2016 U.S Ryder Cup at Hazeltine Country Club, Golf Channel analyst Tim Rosaforte reports.
Love, winner of the 1997 PGA Championship and twenty-time winner on tour, will be officially designated captain Feb. 24 at PGA of America headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., reported ESPN.
Known for his relaxed swing, Love plans to take on one of the least relaxing job’s in America. As captain of the U.S. team, he will try to fix what is severely broken—two decades of near complete domination by the Europeans of the Americans. The Euros have won eight of the last ten matches and seven of the last eight.
Love must bear some responsibility for the miserable record. At Medinah in 2012, the North Carolina native captained the American team to a huge lead going into the Sunday singles matches in what looked to be an easy win for the USA who were up 10-6. But, the Americans wilted, winning only 3 ½ points during the remaining twelve matches, giving the Europeans a 14 ½ to 13 ½ victory. Nevertheless, many of the golfers on the team said they loved playing for Love and it was not his fault.
Love said in an interview after the loss:
They asked me to do two things, promote the game, promote the Ryder Cup, be an ambassador for the game. And then to win. We did really well in one part of it and then we just got beat. I don’t think they’ll ask me to do it again. I don’t think you could do much better. I would feel bad if I took another team and tried to go win because didn’t win with this team. That was my team and I don’t think I’d ever want to change that. If they decided they had a gap down the road and decided they’d love for me to do it again. … maybe.
The 2014 Ryder Cup in Gleneagles, Scotland, turned into a fiasco after the Europeans trounced the Americans 16 ½ to 11 ½. Phil Mickelson undermined captain Tom Watson in a post-tournament press conference by criticizing his coaching techniques.
Breitbart News reported in September that “the feud that developed between their most storied player, Phil Mickelson, and their legendary captain, Tom Watson, proved to out-ugly even USA’s performance. In a post-tournament press conference, a steely-eyed Phil threw Watson under the bus by suggesting that the USA, after losing three in a row, should go back to the Paul Azinger strategy.”
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