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So do the captains really matter?
Shipnuck: The captains are only important for the losing teams, because it's always their fault. That's the captain's role — to take the blame and go down with the ship.
Van Sickle: I don't recall Hal Sutton doing that.
Shipnuck: Hal never fully embraced his role. Any of us could do the pairings effectively, and they have minions to plan the shirts and set the menus. The captains can help relax the team, like Azinger will, or stress them out, like Sutton obviously did.
Garrity: I'm in the not-very-important camp.
Van Sickle: You mean the captains aren't very important or you're not?
Garrity: [Laughs.] Remember Jack Nicklaus? His team got waxed in the Presidents Cup in Melbourne. I mean, just scorched [20 1/2 to 11 1/2, in 1998]. He got hammered because his philosophy was to let the boys play and have fun. Later he wins the Presidents Cup, and all the players and media credited the same approach as the reason for his success. I think Johnny Miller [on NBC] has a bigger impact on the matches than the captains. Miller's opinions reach millions of ears, and he actually scares the players. The captain runs around in a cart and waves the flag. He's a cheerleader when they're playing and a glorified press secretary when they're not.
Anonymous Pro: Nicklaus does it perfectly. He asks guys who they want to play with and who they don't want to play with. If one guy's name keeps coming up as a don't, Jack goes up to an individual and says, "Hey, do you think you can play with so-and-so?" You're always going to play better with your buddies or with someone you have something in common with. Golf is an individual sport. It's not like the New York Yankees trying to pull together. You're a team, but once you're on the 1st tee you're on your own except for your partner.
Shipnuck: Nicklaus said an interesting thing: that the captain's job is to reduce the pressure on the players. I think Zinger will do that. He has a light touch. Faldo is a remote, distant, forbidding presence that may intimidate some Euros.
Anonymous Pro: I really like Zinger. He has talked to darn near everyone who has a Tour card. He's really trying to form a cohesive team. He's a players' captain, more so than Sutton. Hal was a general in a ten-gallon hat.
Garrity: Since he became a TV personality Faldo has shown a real capacity for change and adaptation. He wants to do whatever works. For years in Europe he was a guy that the establishment and other players loathed. He was crusty, uncooperative and selfish. But he's found a way to change his personality to fit his TV role, and student that he is, Faldo may pick up on Jack's idea of taking the pressure off his players.
Shipnuck: When Nick was a player he had a protective bubble around himself, and he thinks that's what everyone wants. His approach is: I'm here if they need me, they can call me; I want to give them their space. Sunday night at last month's PGA, Zinger was in the locker room schmoozing, the star of the show. Zinger has a connection with the players. That doesn't come naturally to Faldo.
Anonymous Pro: I hate to echo Zinger's comments about Faldo trying to re-create his image now, but most players thought Faldo was unapproachable. I haven't seen Nick out there kicking up dust with any players, and I've played a lot of tournaments this year. Zinger is always mingling in the locker room and on the range. Their styles are glaringly different. I'm not sure the Euros will be comfortable with Nick, but they've won with Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam — two distinct opposites — so I'm not sure it even matters.
Valhalla:? good or goofy?
Anonymous Pro: Some people may think that Valhalla is a goofy course, but I'll give it one thing, it's going to be exciting for match play. One of the most dramatic tournaments ever played was Tiger and Bob May in the 2000 PGA at Valhalla. The best hole out there is the 15th, a driver or a three-wood off the tee with a mid-iron or a short iron to a peninsula-type green with water on the right side. It's strikingly similar to a lot of holes at Muirfield Village, also designed by Nicklaus.
