Ryder Cup: Lee Westwood criticises United States response
Last Updated: 09/10/14 10:30am
Lee Westwood has criticised the United States team for airing "dirty laundry in public" after their Ryder Cup defeat at Gleneagles last month.
Phil Mickelson openly criticised American captain Tom Watson at the post-tournament press conference following Europe’s five-point victory.
That has led to a fortnight of apologies, inquests and soul-searching in the United States about what can be done to end the European dominance of the event.
"I think it's a little bit disappointing to see the dirty laundry being out in public," said Westwood. "It's very difficult to pinpoint in a team environment whose fault it specifically is.
"It's a combination of a lot of different things. Maybe Tom got a few things wrong. Maybe the US team just didn't quite play well enough in general. You know, if the other team plays well, you're going to lose.
I'm just pleased that I don't have to sort it all out because I don't like to see people's great reputations being brought down by something that shouldn't really happen in public.
Lee Westwood
"I'm just pleased that I don't have to sort it all out because I don't like to see people's great reputations being brought down by something that shouldn't really happen in public.
"It should all be done behind closed doors and sorted out there, and the analysis should start there, really, and not be done in the press, in the media."
Westwood was part of the team which lost at Valhalla in 2008 and while there were a number of issues with Nick Faldo's captaincy then nobody in the European team broke ranks with their frustrations.
"I think there were a lot of people disappointed in '08 but we tried to come together and basically not say anything in public," added the Englishman.
"Whenever you lose you're going to be disappointed and you're going to think things could have been done better.
"It's just a case of managing it and handling it and improving it for the next time professionally. Certainly for the future Ryder Cups the Europeans will remember how it's all been handled.
"The European team will remember the fall-out from this one. It can't do anything but build confidence for the European team going into the next one that it's been handled so publicly this time.”
