Paul Azinger To Be Named Ryder Cup Captain
November 2, 2006 by admin
The word has been leaked that Paul Azinger will be named the Ryder Cup Captain for the 2008 team. When the European Tour announced that Nick Faldo was going to be their captain, then it was pretty much a lock that Azinger would be the U.S. Captain. Faldo and Azinger go back to their playing days as not-so-friendly competitors which is why their teaming up on ABC golf telecasts was good for golf and tv.
However, I can’t help believe that the upcoming Ryder Cup matches will be as much about the captains as it is about the Ryder Cup itself. Which is too bad because I personally believe that the captaincy needs to be moved further to the background of the matches. Except for the daily picks, the captains don’t have a lot of influence or control of the matches and they’re nothing more than glorified administrative executives.
It might be better to go to a captaincy model where a captain is picked for 3-5 years and then voted upon by the players and not the PGA blue-suits. Or maybe even go to a player-captain model where the player hand-picks 5 and the remaining five come from points. Granted, that would lead to a lot of politics, but it would be interesting.