Media assaults on Faldo unrelenting in wake of Ryder loss
In Louisville, they took turns spanking his backside, peaking with Monday's coverage of the singles session, where the European side made a brief run, then fell 16½-11½, the biggest American margin since 1981.
Chad Campbell was on the U.S. team in 2004 and '06, when the Americans lost by record margins. The captains of those two teams, Hal Sutton and Tom Lehman, were poked and prodded for their perceived shortcomings and tactical gaffes, although not to this degree.
"Obviously, players have to hit the shots and perform, and if they don't, fingers get pointed in all sorts of directions because people want explanations and results," Campbell said. "Whether it's right or whether it's wrong is tough to say."
None of this suggests that Faldo didn't make some questionable decisions along the way. The scrutiny in the Ryder Cup is unlike any other event in golf, and not all of it comes after the fact. Faldo was rightly second-guessed during the week on three important decisions, and that doesn't even include his allegedly morale-killing selection of Ian Poulter as a captain's pick:
• Ryder veterans Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia, who had proven mostly unbeatable for years, were held out of matches on Saturday and Faldo never explained his motives for the decision beforehand. But, Europe won that particular session, as Westwood pointed out. "He was bold in his picks and he was bold in his selections," Mahan said. "Sitting out Westwood and Sergio was shocking, definitely to us, to see that."
• He benched long hitters Paul Casey, Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson in a best-ball session, where occasional wildness off the tee isn't as much of a disadvantage.
• Yet in the tactic that rang the continental klaxons most, Faldo back-loaded his Sunday singles lineup with points machines Poulter and Graeme McDowell, plus Ryder veterans Westwood and Padraig Harrington. Their matches proved to be irrelevant when the Cup was settled by players in the middle of the draw sheet. Harrington and Westwood were drilled Sunday, nonetheless. "Would it have made a difference if he had put those guys up front, as poorly as they had played?" Harmon said. "Maybe not." Faldo evidently won't be expanding on his rude Ryder experiences anytime soon. Through his personal publicist, Faldo, who back in the Golf Channel analyst's chair at the Tour Championship beginning Thursday, declined an interview request.
The U.K. media has filled the blackout rather colorfully. The Telegraph predicted that the defeat would position Faldo as "about to pay the price of a lifetime of self-serving, of devotion to the cult of the individual."
Captain crunching isn't unique to the Brits. U.S. skipper Curtis Strange back-loaded his Sunday singles lineup six years ago and "was crucified," as Harmon put it. Hal Sutton was the captain of the ill-fated U.S. effort in Detroit in 2004, which featured the winless pairing of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and has rarely been seen since.
Frankly, the levels of venom and vitriol with Faldo have reached tsunami proportions by comparison.
"I'm not surprised and not because I feel like he did a bad job -- I've seen it happen to our captains for the last three," U.S. Ryder veteran Jim Furyk said of Faldo's evisceration. "It's part of the job. When you take it you need a thick skin, and you need to realize that you're either going to be the hero or the goat.
"I can't remember the last time a captain lost and was applauded for the effort he put into the event and wasn't widely criticized. Surprised? Not at all, not at all. You have to realize it's coming."
Like a freight train loaded with newspaper pulp and barrels of ink.
"Funny, but I don't remember Nick missing a shot," mused Immelman, who watched the matches on TV.
It's unclear if Faldo is aware of his flagellation in the British tabs, since after flying to Britain with the team early Monday morning, he hopped on a plane to the States for business meetings, flew to his U.S. base in Orlando for a brief spell, then headed to Atlanta for this week's PGA Tour event.
He might want to stay in the States for a while.
"That's tough for him to go back to," Mahan said. "You definitely feel for him, because he definitely doesn't deserve all that."
