{"id":464,"date":"2014-11-10T16:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.golfballs.com\/?p=464"},"modified":"2024-02-19T15:17:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T21:17:00","slug":"fred-couples-is-players-favorite-for-ryder-captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/fred-couples-is-players-favorite-for-ryder-captain\/","title":{"rendered":"Fred Couples Is Players’ Favorite For Ryder Captain"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fred<\/a>

Fred Couples – Players’ Favorite for Ryder Cup Captain, image: cleveland.com<\/p><\/div>\n

When it comes to players\u2019 opinions regarding who should be the next Ryder Cup captain to lead Team USA, only one name is consistently spoken.<\/p>\n

That name is Fred Couples<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Bridgestone<\/a> tour team member and three-time Presidents Cup captain \u2013 who also boasts a 3-0 record for those tournaments \u2013 has been mentioned time and again by some of professional golf\u2019s best players as a possible leader to take the helm during the 2016 Ryder Cup matches.\u00a0 Those players include Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the latter of which made no bones about his feelings toward Ryder Cup leadership during the 2014 tournament held in Scotland.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s even more interesting about the collective interest in Couples is possibly his own lack thereof, or at least his reluctance to act too incredibly enthused by the speculation.\u00a0 \u201cIf it happens, it happens,\u201d Couples was quoted as saying in regards to a potential 2016 Ryder Cup captaincy.<\/p>\n

Couples\u2019 nonchalant attitude \u2013 paired with his proven leadership during his three Presidents Cup tournaments \u2013 may be exactly what Team USA needs to break the mold of American upset during the biennially held Ryder Cup matches.<\/p>\n

A Proven Record<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fred Couples\u2019 winning record certainly speaks for itself; obviously, the 55-year-old golfing legend is doing something right.\u00a0 But what is it that not only makes him a successful Presidents Cup captain, but one that is incredibly appealing to the very players that he could be coaching during the next Ryder Cup?<\/p>\n

Phil Mickelson believes it is Couples\u2019 implementation of the very system that Mickelson himself wanted to employ during the last Ryder Cup matches in Scotland.\u00a0 In fact, the exclusion of the pod system during the 2014 matches \u2013 along with various leadership decisions made by Tom Watson<\/a> \u2013 is what Mickelson attributed the American team\u2019s loss across the pond to.<\/p>\n

The pod system is a relatively simple strategy that was successfully utilized by Paul Azinger during the only Team USA Ryder Cup win of the 21st<\/sup> century: The 2008 Ryder Cup matches held at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.\u00a0 The pod system was developed by Azinger after the only winning American coach of this century saw a documentary on Navy SEAL training on the Discovery Channel.\u00a0 The system \u2013 which breaks large teams down into smaller groups \u2013 was the tried-and-true Naval recruit strategy that, when applied to Team USA, went on to break the American losing streak in 2008. Of course, instead of carrying guns, these recruits are carrying golf clubs.<\/p>\n

Already Leading<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even though many players are already excited about the prospect of Couples leading the Americans during the next Ryder Cup matches, Couples has made it clear that the PGA of America\u2019s leadership hasn’t exactly given him a vote of confidence \u2013 not yet anyway.<\/p>\n

In regards to the position, Couples was quoted as saying, \u201cI\u2019m not a PGA of America guy,\u201d before going on to state that he wasn’t asked by the higher ups to participate in the 11-member task force<\/a> that was formed in response to the most recent American Ryder Cup loss.<\/p>\n

Still, Couples already has plenty of ideas.\u00a0 In response to Tom Watson\u2019s strategy during the last Ryder Cup, Couples stated that, \u201c[Watson] didn’t cradle his boys enough, and that\u2019s what they need,\u201d implying that a top-down leadership strategy without listening to players\u2019 ideas ultimately hurt the team\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

Couples also made it clear that he wouldn’t have benched Phil Mickelson during Saturday\u2019s rounds at the last Ryder Cup, stating that, \u201cPhil Mickelson has been the best guy on every team I’ve ever been on.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the sound of Couples\u2019 recent statements concerning Tom Watson\u2019s Ryder Cup performance, as well as his enthusiasm about Team USA\u2019s players calling him immediately after the tournament to persuade him to consider throwing his hat in the ring for a 2016 captaincy, it\u2019s clear that if Couples should be called upon to lead the Americans in their next Ryder Cup bid, that he\u2019ll be more than ready to answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to players\u2019 opinions regarding who should be the next Ryder Cup captain to lead Team USA, only one name is consistently spoken. That name is Fred Couples. The Bridgestone tour team...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,4],"tags":[119,116,38,118,79,117],"class_list":["post-464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-news","tag-2016-ryder-cup","tag-fred-couples","tag-phil-mickelson","tag-team-usa-ryder-cup-captain","tag-tom-watson","tag-usa-ryder-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions\/466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}