PARAMUS, N.J. -- It isn't as though Hunter Mahan has avoided discussing the million-pound elephant standing in the corner of the room. Far from it.
Ever since he uncharacteristically popped off a few weeks ago in a national magazine about the Ryder Cup and the event's host, the PGA of America, he has fallen on his sword so often, he's starting to look like a guy using a belly putter.
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| 'It will go away eventually,' Mahan says about his Ryder Cup comments. (Getty Images) |
After blistering Ridgewood Country Club with a 9-under 62 on Thursday to take a four-shot lead in the opener of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup series, The Barclays, Mahan again addressed whether his inflammatory comments might have left him a leper, not a leaper, with respect to jumping aboard the U.S. Ryder roster.
"It will go away eventually," Mahan said of the brouhaha. "It's funny, if I don't get on the team, it's gone. But if I make the team it's going to come right back up again.
"It's kind of a double-edged sword. But it's nothing I'm not going to talk about. I think the PGA is comfortable with me."
If he keeps playing like this, we'll soon find out if he's right. All things being equal, Mahan would be held in the same regard as anybody on the short list of candidates for the four picks, which will be announced by captain Paul Azinger on Sept. 2 in New York City. But of course, things are hardly equal, are they?
Despite all of the make-niceties offered by the offended parties, Mahan likely must play better than the rest to earn the affirmative nod, because nobody can throw around pejorative terms live "slaves" when describing players' roles at the Ryder and emerge unscathed.
Remember that campy horror flick released several years back called the Toxic Avenger? Mahan might be too septic to put on the team. While everybody from Azinger to the top brass at the PGA has insisted that there's no ill will concerning the promising 26-year-old's inflammatory remarks, let's cut to the chase because we're burning daylight and selection hour approaches.
The PGA knows that if Mahan gets named to the team, the magazine remarks will again be a topic of discussion during Ryder week, particularly among the saucy European press contingent. Azinger already has one lightning rod on the team in Kenny Perry, who controversially passed on opportunities to qualify or play in two major championships.
Many fans have read or heard about the Mahan manifesto by now. In a wide-ranging Q&A with Golf Magazine, Mahan said: "The PGA of America could care less about winning it, honestly. They pick a site where they're going to have the Senior PGA, the PGA and the Ryder Cup, which means less money they have to pay out to get more money.
"And from what I've heard, the whole week is extremely long. You've got dinners every night -- not little dinners, but huge, massive dinners. I know, as players, that's the last thing we want to do. We want to prepare ourselves. That's part of the whole thing: You're just a slave that week. At some point the players might say, 'You know what -- we're not doing this anymore, because this is ridiculous.'"
In light of the fact that he has never played on a Ryder team, Mahan was summarily paddled in the public square. Ironically, his opinion is shared by other more prominent players, but they know better than to voice their thoughts so publicly. Mahan, in his fifth year on tour, apparently hadn't earned the right to voice it.
