More head-scratching for U.S. after another Ryder Cup loss

The United States were once again left scratching their heads after losing the Ryder Cup to Europe for the eighth time in 10 years on Sunday, the killer blow being their poor display in the foursomes. U.S. captain Tom Watson was widely panned for his decision to rest in-form rookies Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth from the opening foursomes, and Phil Mickelson felt the team missed a trick by not trying to replicate their winning recipe from 2008.

We had a great formula in ‘08 and I don’t know why we have strayed from it.

Phil Mickelson

Six years ago, Paul Azinger’s imaginative captaincy paved the way for a first U.S. Ryder Cup victory since 1999, after he revamped the selection process to give him the hottest players and switched the opening Cup session from four balls to foursomes. However, his most successful ploy was implementing a “pod” system whereby his team was split into four groups of three players who gelled superbly that week at Valhalla after practicing and playing together.

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