Sky Sports - Ryder Cup

Few people are better qualified than Bruce Critchley to talk about Ryder Cup captaincy.

Bruce has previously written a book with the current European captain,so before he heads off to Valhalla, skysports.com caught up with him to see how both Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger are faring, and what faces them at Valhalla...

SKYSPORTS.COM: Just give us an overview of what the Ryder Cup captain's role is...
BRUCE CRITCHLEY: I think the captain's role is a mixture of motivation and team selection. It's about making everything as good as possible for his players, so they want for nothing. Tony Jacklin had to do all of this along with Bernard Gallacher, his number two, because there wasn't anything in place going back into the 1980's. Obvious because of the success of the Ryder Cup, the money it has generated and the status of the match, there is an entire appartment doing all that - rooms, bedrooms, special needs, wives, creches, clothing, are pretty much taken care of.

Even if that is taken care of, Faldo has named just one vice-captain, going against what we've seen in the past? Is that a concern?
BC: It worries me from the point of view of having eyes and ears out on the course for the first couple of days when you can't watch all four matches, even if he's sitting watching television - which he shouldn't be of course. You don't see enough and if you have one man with each match he can tell you who's playing well, who's putting well, who's in trouble, who's happy, who isn't happy and if you talk to Sam Torrance he always had four people going round.

And what about Azinger? Is he taking the same approach?
BC: He's looked at what Europe has done in the past and thought 'I'm going to try and do what they've done'. Azinger has brought in successful captains - and there are only about two in recent times - in Dave Stockton and Ray Floyd. Stockton probably came closest to being a European-style captain. He had a little group or committee in 1991 when he was captain, who used to sit and talk about the Ryder Cup and Azinger was one of those. Through the summer instead of having practice before tournaments they would have little mini, internal Ryder Cups and he put pairings together and they'd have a match while they were preparing four tournaments. Stockton did more to rattle the cage and America won.

So what disadvantage will Faldo have, given his is effectively a two-man team?
BC: For a start, you've got to put your afternoon pairings in at midday and even in foursomes if they're all close, none of those games will be finished, maybe just the top one. The purpose is to have expertise advice as to who's playing well and who isn't and maybe anything untoward going on, so he'll be short of a bit of information. He may of course, have decided already who is going to play in the morning and who is going to play in the afternoon.

Is it really possible that Faldo has already decided on his first-day pairings and won't change them regardless of how the first foursomes goes?
BC: It's perfectly possible because Nick is a man of fixed ideas and he'll probably decide 'this is the way it's going to be'. The one thing that can't be fixed though, is how everybody plays on the day. Faldo is the most single-minded person the game has thrown up with the exception of Tiger Woods. He's extremely single-minded. But if you're writing a job description for a Ryder Cup captain, you would want more flexibility. People's form is very transient, so you need to have those alternatives. Nick is not particularly flexible and will probably bat on regardless, but he's got to have other options. For example go back to 1985 at The Belfry, Faldo himself played poorly in the foursomes on the first morning and Jacklin said 'how are you feeling? Do you want to go out again?' - and he opted out and didn't play again until the singles. He lost that as well.

Clearly Faldo is and always has been his own man, always done things his way? Does that really lend itself to Ryder Cup captaincy?
BC: Well, he has already got off to a bad start, if you read the press, by the apparent mis-handling of Ian Poulter's selection. He's not done Ian Poulter any favours by saying 'look, I'm going to pick you but come over and try to qualify by right and make my life a bit easier'. In his own mind I think he'd decided he was going to take Poulter and Paul Casey and probably didn't want any of them to play and make him think again. This is the way Nick is. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but he has put Poulter in an invidious position to perform.

Talk us through the man-management aspect. These are the world's top golfers, surely they don't need any geeing up or motivating?
BC: One of the most important things is, and certainly Bernhard Langer did this, you've got to talk to each and every one of them and ask 'who would you like to play with?' and 'who do you not want to play with?' Langer did it with little cards, only between him and each player, but you have to establish who's comfortable with who.

The pairings... we've mentioned the wider aspects of the job, but regardless of that, surely it all comes down to the captain's selections?
BC: That is the one big ask, Faldo has got to get right. And I think it is harder this year than it has been for some years because you haven't got pairings that leap out of the page at you. Clarke and Westwood was one, Monty and whoever. I don't think he has a Monty and a Langer who were wonderful, you could put them anywhere, give them a job to do and they would go there. Europe has less clear-cut pairings than we had before. Normally you would say Monty will play with so-and-so, Langer will play with him, but I think it's very difficult to see obvious pairings. The ones that might have played well together like Garcia and Westwood, are now too valuable to put in the same match. The one thing Europe are missing compared to last time though is simple: there is no Clarke, Montgomerie and Donald. Between them - and not playing together at any time - they amassed eight points out of 18. That's good experience that isn't around.

Aren't America worse off? Six rookies, that's half the side without any Ryder Cup experience whatsoever.
BC: Without Woods the Americans are being perceived as bigger underdogs than they've ever been. There's a lot of names there that aren't familiar there because they never travel. They have a lot of rookies for a start and Azinger added three more with his picks for wont of anything better. The ones that are experienced have only experienced losing, so why not give someone else a chance? I think the rookie factor is less significant for America than it is for Europe.

Without Woods... what did you make of Azinger's comment that he would have an open phoneline to Tiger throughout the three days?
BC: There is the inevitable conundrum as to whether they are better of with Woods or without him, but I don't really know what he can bring from a distance. I think he is right to stay away but what he can say down a phone, I don't know. And once again it is elevating the guy to above even where he is - it's like a hotline to God! It doesn't appeal to me enormously, Azinger is the captain and it's not as if it's Tiger Woods who has won 18 out of 25 Ryder Cup points, we're talking about here.

None of the Americans have impressive Ryder Cup stats. But who does Azinger look to out on the course? Who will be his linchpins?
BC: I think Anthony Kim is potentially a really good player, I think Ben Curtis - even though he's got a funny old swing - has shown some good form since he featured well in the USPGA, I think Steve Stricker's an old hat. But what I think is really important, particularly in the first two days is that people like Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard, who have all seen it before and are playing pretty well, come up and do the business and show the way. If they're up for it and really make a show I think the others will fall in line.

From his point of view, how can Azinger do to shake the United States up? What can he, as captain do, to stop the rot?
PC: He's at least having a go at making, creating change. He's rattled the cage and he's looked at what Europe has done with shorter qualification time, how people get into the side. He's gone for more picks, which hasn't really helped him because no-one has really come up with some really good golf, but he's given himself the options. He's gone with foursomes first for the first time since Sam Torrance I think in 2002. Historically the Americans have been better at foursomes. And the great thing in Ryder Cups is to get your nose in front and keep it there and foursomes is kind of a 'home' game with them. He's gone with the format where America has done least badly in recent years. Azinger has changed all the things he could change. I admire that.

As you say, he has experience of being involved in Ryder Cups outside of playing. Faldo hasn't. Does that give his American counterpart the upper hand?
BC: Sam Torrance said he was thrilled that he was Mark James' assistant previously because he learned so much about the job. Ian Woosnam has been an assistant, has been on that side of the fence but Faldo never has. He will have no experience of what goes on. He's a rookie captain in that sense.

Is it fair to say that players can win the Ryder Cup, whereas captain's can lose it?
BC: There's a bit of that, but If Nick has done everything right, they can't point a finger at him. But a lot of his reputation is wrapped up in how Poulter performs. The hardest thing he's got to do is to find some winning combinations and if he can do that they can take a good lead going into Sunday. If they're behind going into the Singles and America have got some players with points on the board, who knows what will happen?

So you've worked on Ryder Cups, written a book on men who have won the Ryder Cup, would you fancy the job yourself?
BC: Well, I certainly wouldn't want to be in Nick's shoes! It is a huge job to be Ryder Cup captain. Aside from getting the pairings right, so many things crop up at the time, on the day, which is when you need a few mates around you to help you out. And probably, even though he has played in plenty of these, he will not realise until the day comes just how much there is too this.

The Captain's Challenge: Winning The Ryder Cup, by Bruce Critchley, with foreword by Colin Montgomerie is in the shops now! Published by Icon Books it is priced at £12.99. For more go to www.iconbooks.co.uk