Faldo: At fault for Europe's loss?
What did you make of Nick Faldo's captaincy of the European Ryder Cup side at Valhalla? It's Your View. < Back to Story
Faldo: At fault for Europe's loss?
What did you make of Nick Faldo's captaincy of the European Ryder Cup side at Valhalla? It's Your View. < Back to Story
Skysports.com takes a first-hand look around the Celtic Manor complex in pictures.
Pictures of Team Europe's individual players as selected by Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie.
Pictures of Team USA's individual players as selected by Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin.
As we countdown to the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, here's a look at the tournament's prestigious history.
Check out our gallery of European captain Colin Montgomerie's Ryder Cup career.
Pictures from USA's 16.5 -11.5 victory over Europe in the 37th Ryder Cup at Valhalla.
Pictures from the 2006 Ryder Cup held at The K Club in County Kildare, Ireland.
Tiger Woods won the US Open on one leg and, despite Poulter's best efforts, Europe fail in Valhalla.
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Comments (161)
Patg G says...
Blame Faldo????? Think carefully, who lets europe down - Garcia ... Harrinton ... Westwood the golfers who qualified through merits...go count how many points they gather. Put them on any order the trio still will not get any points. So don't balme Faldo. And why Americans can have four wild cards. Typical of Americans !!!!!!! they crowd sucks
Posted 17:20 22nd September 2008
Stuart Lorne says...
how can you blame Faldo. on day 3 the best Eurpean players were not upto the job. the Americans played superbly and our lads thought they could walk it. it was they who let Nick down, not the other way around. Stuart Lorne
Posted 16:38 22nd September 2008
Darren Blair says...
Faldo did nothing wrong, admitingly I was a doubter of his choice when he picked Poulter as I thought Clarke was the better choice, but Poulter proved his worth, basically the Americans "PLAYED BETTER GOLF" over the 3 days! Thats it.! Done! Well done to them ALL not just Azinger........
Posted 16:31 22nd September 2008
Sheena O'keeffe says...
Well done to the USA team on a fantastic victory over the europeans.I thought that the americans played the better golf that us. I have to say that the best players on the european team were ian poulter and justin rose.Too many of the other players on the europeans did not play the best golf that i know they can but maybe the pressure got to them more than the players on the usa team.The fact that tiger woods wasnt playing spurned the usa team on and proved that they can win the ryder cup without him.
Posted 16:30 22nd September 2008
Sean Keegan says...
Faldo should never have been captain, he was to quiet for the job. In my view Paul Casey was not the form player, he souldn`t have even been looked at. We needed someone their to give the team some lift and some experience like Darren or Monty. Faldo just wanted to have a team that wouldn`t question him and he got his way and look what happened, we lost. Because unlike Faldo the Americans picked players who were on form and played well with each other. I would hope Europe learn from this and select a person who can lift the team when needed and also have an idea into picking a team that would work, maybe Monty is the way to go. Jimenez to be next captain. Congrates to the U.S. they deserved it.
Posted 16:25 22nd September 2008
Ian Carre says...
I dont personally think that it was all Faldo's fault. There was a few of our so called bigger names that simply didnt play well enough and they have admitted it. I think Faldo should be given the opportunity to regain the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in 2010
Posted 16:25 22nd September 2008
Mark Phillips says...
Faldo has no blame in my opinion. Westwood said it perfectly; "If you look at the first four matches we won two and a half points so we had wiped out the lead more or less, so what's the problem? What more can you do than stick Sergio out first? Is he not strong enough?" You need both strength at top and bottom - garcia just got destroyed - as would anyone up against that front nine except boo weekley who hit 29. Poulter has been absolutely awesome as has mcdowell and to have those two, who have shown much less nerves over the three days over puts than numerous more experienced such as Paddy and Sergio, at the end is totally understandable. As Westwood said, 2.5 from the top 4 is very good - could easily have been 3 from 4 had it not been for the awesome, and extremely lucky, put from Mahan. Faldo also, very obviously, proven right over Ian poulter. One of many mainstays who should come from this team. roll on wales
Posted 16:21 22nd September 2008
Peter Crawford says...
The reasons for the European's loss of the Ryder Cup are numerous. Some of the American golf was sensational. At times Weekly, Mahan, Kim etc. were playing target golf with every approach landing stone dead. Not many could have lived with them. However, Europe did have the talent to compete but too many of the big guns did not turn up. Garcia should be ashamed of himself for not only the humiliating way he capitualted to Kim but how he played all week. Westwood was not much better. Harrington had a poor Ryder Cup record going in so the expectation that he suddenly turn into a match play specialist because he won majors was ill-founded. Other players were too inconsistent. It was asking too much of Poulter, McDowell and Rose to win all the points for the team. Blame must also be placed on Nick Faldo. The lack of vice-captains was painfully obvious. Faldo and Ollie spent most of the day driving back and forth trying to be everywhere and ending up being nowhere. Faldo's singles line up was too bottom heavy, particularly with regards to when Poulter and McDowell went out. In-form players must be given the chance not just to influence the scoreboard but also those players playing behind them. We can't know if behind the scenes Faldo was a negative impact on the players. However, being a Ryder Cup captain these days is about being able to deal with the media, taking the pressure off your players. Faldo's cold, detached approach that helped him become Britain's best ever player made him completely unsuited to leading the team from the day his captaincy was announced. If anything, it intensified the pressure and scrutiny. The handling of the Poulter issue only made things worse. While he was vindicated in picking Poulter, the fact that he went back on his promise to pick form players (ie. Clarke) and did little about rumours that he told Poulter he was in (true or not) contributed to a bad atmosphere around the team
Posted 16:02 22nd September 2008
Roderick Macdougall says...
He`s the captain, the blame starts and stops with him, and yes I did not agree with his pick of Poulter. Nothing to do with Poulter as a player but the fact that he chose to stay and play in America for the money and not try and make the team under his own steam should have made him a non-pick.
Posted 15:55 22nd September 2008
Debbie Watson says...
You cannot possibly blame Nick Faldo for us losing the Ryder Cup, our team played well, i think Justin Rose was great----but---the Americans played better on the day, that is all.Listen we cannot win all the time it's onwards and upwards better luck next time.
Posted 15:50 22nd September 2008
Nick Taylor says...
Amazing weekend of golf. Blame Faldo for the defeat? - No way! We were simply outplayed by a better team over the 3 days. The press who are stirring up all the anti Faldo feeling, are the same press that slated him for picking Poulter. Now they are agreeing with his selection of Poulter, and blaming other things. Typical press. We had some disapointing performances from our top players (Garcia springs to mind), but thats just the way it goes sometimes. I give credit to the Americans for some brilliant golf, and look forward to regaining the trophy next time
Posted 15:48 22nd September 2008
Paul Wincott says...
Regardless of team selection, which I believe was the strongest Europe had (I'm of course refering to Monty who is rubbish and only would have dragged europe further down and Casey), The tactics of Faldo were right. He maybe should have put at least one of his "big three" higher up the order, but had it been a one point win to Europe at the end everyone would be saying what a genius Faldo was. Hopefully he is captain again next time.
Posted 15:48 22nd September 2008
Brendan Burke says...
If Torrance or Langer were in charge, I think Europe would have won. People need leaders, whether it's war or sport - Faldo was a wonderful golfer but he's no leader - good luck to the US.
Posted 15:43 22nd September 2008
Tim Rix says...
No way is it Faldo's fault, he was the most passionate out of all the team, along with Poulter! It was the big guns that let us down and America were amazing!! Well done Poulter for proving everyone wrong!
Posted 15:40 22nd September 2008
Piers Hickman says...
Nick Faldo made one small error.When your team are behind going into the last day you need your players who have performed to go out first and put some pressure on your opponents and get some points on the board.Unfortuatley this did not happen and we suffered for it.The U.S.A. team played with great confidence and deserved their win, they were just too good on the day.
Posted 15:38 22nd September 2008
John Mc says...
Faldo's strategy was wrong on day 3. Europe were 2 points behind at the start of the day and he decided to put Europes supposedly stronger players out last what a Joke. The game was lost before Westwood, Harrington etc could do anything about it.
Posted 15:37 22nd September 2008
Darren Galloway says...
How can anyone blame Nick Faldo for the Ryder cup loss. Both his wildcards did a fantastic job especially Poulter. The bottom line is that the so called senior players were not on top of their game & the Americans were. As far as the comment about Faldo being a loner all golfers are generally loners as it's an individual sport. The beauty of the Ryder Cup is the sheer passion of all the golfers concerned. Some of these guys showed more passion after making an important putt than winning a major tournament. Surely the sport is the real winner.
Posted 15:36 22nd September 2008
Dave Wood says...
I think you have to blame Faldo to some extent. We needed to get the 2 points back as early as possible to steady the ship and put the chasing to bed. By playing Poulter and Harrington at the back end he all but ended our chance of taking the lead let alone catching up. Westwood was awful all weekend so it didn't matter in the end where he played him!! Sorry Nick, your fault this time
Posted 15:28 22nd September 2008
Derek O'neill says...
As a European resident in the United States I am shocked to find the 'blame game' being played out today. The American team played fantastic golf, as did the European team, they just played better this time. Azinger out captained Faldo, but this was coming. We, as Europeans, have enjoyed a fantastic ride for the past several contests but it could not go on forever!! Get real you naysayers, the tournament was dying for lack of American success. Now we can look forward to Wales with renewed enthusiasm. "The Wests Awake,' and it took a bit of a maverick in Azinger to do it. Give credit where credit is due, the Americans outgunned us this time, live with it!.
Posted 14:48 22nd September 2008
Ross Dunstan says...
All this blaming Nick Faldo is a joke! Most of the team is picked for him by the qualifying process and out of our so called top players we scored very little all weekend. The biggest point tally came from Poulter, a player Faldo was blasted for picking over Clarke? At the end of the day the USA played better and when we landed inside 10ft they landed inside 6ft! The team all had a say in the final order and i think that playing the way they did the USA team would still have won. We got beat fair and square away from home and if anyone should be asked questions it is our so called 'big players' who frankly under performed. Lay off Nick, we lost, get over it, we were beaten by a better all round performance. We can get it back in 2 years!
Posted 14:48 22nd September 2008