The Criticism of Nick Faldo Has Been Unjustified

Few Ryder Cups in recent memory have placed as much attention on the team captains as was given to Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo entering the 37th biennial matches.

Faldo and Azinger appeared on the cover of Golf Digest, had an entire ‘Captains Challenge’ series on the Golf Channel and were the main topic of hours upon hours of Ryder Cup previews. 

Each entered the Ryder Cup with a different form of pressure upon them. 

Azinger had the monumental task of trying to finally reverse the European’s Ryder Cup dominance, which had spanned nearly a decade.

Faldo had a different form of pressure upon his back.  The European team entered the  Ryder Cup as the clear favorite.  A defeat would have given Faldo the undistinguished honor of being the first European captain to have lost the cup in nearly a decade.

Azinger was grilled for months about his modifications to the American team’s selection process.  The previous selection process involved 10 players automatically qualifying through Ryder Cup points, along with two captain’s picks.

Azinger changed this to allow himself four captain’s picks along with the other eight players who had qualified through the points system.  In the months preceding the Ryder Cup, much was written and spoken about how Azinger’s legacy as a captain would largely depend on the success of his four captain’s picks. 

As if Azinger weren’t already under the gun for allowing himself more control over who made his squad, he went out and chose three rookies and the 54th-ranked player on the PGA Tour as his four captain’s picks.  Needless to say, a firestorm of criticism and second guessing followed in the days and weeks after Azinger’s picks. 

Faldo received an enormous amount of criticism as well for leaving Darren Clarke, a fan favorite and the backbone of the European’s recent Ryder Cup success, and Colin Montgomerie, one of the most dominant Ryder Cup players of all time, off his team.

Faldo, of Great Britain, was accused of playing favorites by choosing fellow Brits Ian Poulter and Paul Casey as his captain's picks. 

As we all know, the Americans regained the Ryder Cup with a score of 16½ to 11½. Azinger has been hailed as a hero with rumblings already beginning about his reign as captain continuing into the 2010 Ryder Cup, which would make him the first person since Ben Hogan to captain two consecutive American Ryder Cup teams.

Faldo, on the other hand, has been crucified by the British press.   

The fact of the matter is that both captains approached the matches with a very similar strategy. Azinger’s players just happened to perform a lot better than Faldo’s last week.

Faldo’s pairing decisions and particularly his Sunday singles lineup could have been arguably even better than Azinger’s when you really sit down and examine it. 

If you are sitting here reading this article thinking about how you knew that Sunday’s singles matches would be a blowout in favor of the Americans, you are kidding yourself and can only be classified as a "Monday morning quarterback."

Everyone believed that Sunday’s singles matches would be extremely close, with many even believing that the Europeans had the upper hand. 

Azinger took a massive risk by stacking the top of his lineup in the hopes of a quick kill, while leaving the final four matches down to Stewart Cink, Steve Striker, Ben Curtis and Chad Campbell. 

Had Anthony Kim not played the round of his life and beaten Sergio Garcia in the first match of the day, the Europeans would have taken the overall lead after the first four matches with Poulter, Westwood and Harrington bringing up the rear. 

Although Westwood and Harrington both lost their matches on Sunday, you would have to believe that there is a good chance those matches would have swung the other way had the cup still been on the line. 

Anthony Kim was the deciding factor in Sunday’s singles matches, even more so than Azinger’s decision to stack the top of his lineup or Faldo’s decision to stack the bottom of his lineup. 

Kim went out and trounced the European team’s best player 5&4 and got the momentum swinging towards the American side. 

If that first match of the day goes the other way, the Europeans would have had the lead and the momentum heading into the day’s final eight matches, the last of which contained Poulter, Westwood, and Harrington against far inferior opponents.

Unfortunately, the British press has overlooked this glaringly obvious fact. 

Had Kim lost that first match of the day, Azinger’s name would have likely appeared in articles entitled ‘Azinger hands the cup back to the Europeans’ or ‘Azinger’s lineup costs the Americans yet another Ryder Cup’ while Faldo would have been hailed as a hero for outsmarting Azinger in his Sunday lineup and bringing the European team back from the depths of defeat. 

Where Azinger did have the upper hand last week was in his ability to motivate his team of young Ryder Cup rookies. 

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Faldo was at fault for his team’s lackadaisical appearance throughout the Ryder Cup. 

Not to take anything away from the American side who went out there and played utterly outstanding golf, but you have to remember that Lee Westwood was recovering from tonsillitis, Sergio Garcia was also sick and on antibiotics and Padraig Harrington appeared to be downright exhausted after his two major wins in a month and the FedEx Cup.     

The British press have never been fond of Faldo.  He is considered to be an odd character and never gave the press the time of day throughout his illustrious career, a career that can be arguably seen as the best of any British player in modern times.

Yes, Azinger appeared to be better at motivating his team and building team unity last week, but Faldo was by no means the reason why the European team lost the Ryder Cup, that distinction falls squarely on his ‘big three’ of Garcia, Westwood, and Harrington, who were unable to get anything going all weekend.

Unfortunately for Faldo, he has been banished to a life of being forever crucified by the British press, but, as they say, you are no one until the British press has spent a good deal of time crucifying you.