Can a ‘task force’ really fix the USA’s Ryder Cup problem?

Last month, the United States Ryder Cup team imploded for its third straight defeat. It was beaten soundly and public criticisms were lobbed as soon as it ended. The roster of rookies, older players, and Webb Simpson was expected to take a loss. The problem for the United States is that this defeat was the latest in an ugly trend that now spans almost two decades.

What can be done about it? Well, the PGA of America, which controls and operates the Ryder Cup on the USA side, is going to attempt to find out. They’ve announced that there will be an 11-person task force to evaluate the entire process -- most importantly, selecting a captain and building a team.

Is this the right way to go? The pros and cons of the new Ryder Cup Task Force.

Is this a knee-jerk reaction?

At first glance, the new task force appears to be a bit of an overreaction. Sure, the US was trounced at Gleneagles, but it was the underdogs and playing on foreign soil. Only one person, who shall remain nameless, on the SB Nation golf staff picked the US. There were too many question marks coming in to the 2014 Ryder Cup to expect a victory.

Initially, this task force looks like it was put together in direct response to the latest failure. It’s understandable. The powers that be are upset that the Ryder Cup has resided in Europe since 2010 and it makes sense that they’d had enough. And the poor job by Tom Watson as captain is enough to make everyone involved take a look at the process for picking the leader and his team.

Phil Mickelson’s comments, perhaps delivered at the wrong time, only added to the urgency to put an entire review of the process in place. But this task force comes just a couple weeks after the loss, without much time to consider or evaluate how to do the evaluating.

Photo via Harry Engels

The US hasn’t been THAT bad.

Just the very formation of a Ryder Cup task force would lead the average golf fan to believe that there is something fundamentally wrong with USA golf. You might think they are trying to fix a large-scale problem with the way they play. But has the USA been that bad in recent years? Not really.

In 2012, the US had one hand on the Cup. If it not for a Euro comeback so unlikely that it was termed the “Medinah Miracle,” the United States would have won its second Ryder Cup in three tries and probably wouldn’t be so worked up in the fallout of Gleneagles.

In 2010, the Ryder Cup came down to the final match. Not exactly a blowout.

But 2014 was not close, and ended with that disastrous (if you’re the PGA) press conference. The captain and his selections were widely panned and it probably directly caused the PGA of America to start this task force.

The new task force should examine the recent close calls just as much as this latest blowout, and work with the young talent waiting in the wings for the United States. The US has a handful of excellent young players who could add great value to teams that have actually been very close in recent years. Players like Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler should be on Ryder Cup teams for years to come and everyone knows it. Do we need a task force to figure that out?

The process is screwed up

I’ve talked about it a bunch, but the Ryder Cup process is a mess. Because of the setup, arguably the hottest player on the planet, Billy Horschel, was left off the 2014 team. Had the rules and schedule been different for selecting players, maybe the result would have been different for the United States in 2014.

Tom Watson’s picks of Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley, and Hunter Mahan were underwhelming all week. And then Watson’s questionable lineup decisions compounded problems for an already overmatched US side.

To make a quick and lasting impact, the new task force should adjust the process and scheduling. As it stands now, players can earn their way onto the team by accumulating prize money. The only problem with this is that the new wraparound schedule on the PGA Tour makes for a very long season. Jimmy Walker made his way to Gleneagles, thanks in large part to his stellar play to begin the 2014 season. The thing is, he won his first tournament in October of 2013. By the middle of February 2014, he had almost assured himself a spot. Horschel, on the other hand, saved his best golf for late 2014 and ran out of weeks to earn prize money and accumulate points.

The deadline for qualifying on points, as well as captain’s picks from Watson, had passed before Horschel could streak through the final three events of the postseason and win the FedEx Cup. And that’s how the hottest player in the world, an American, is left at home. That’s one quick and easy change this group can suggest.

Photo via Mike Ehrmann

The players need to play better

This may seem like the most simple thing, but the US players haven’t played all that well when it matters most, especially this year in Foursomes. As many have pointed out, they are the ones who hit the shots and make the putts. Can the task force fix this problem? Probably not. I doubt they are going to get these guys lessons.

What the task force can do, however, is identify the players who are best suited for the Ryder Cup environment. Take Reed as an example. By all accounts, he was struggling coming into the 2014 Ryder Cup. But at Gleneagles, he was a star. He already had the talent -- as all 24 guys in this competition do -- but also had the right individual approach to be a great Ryder Cup player. The first-time performance evoked elements of Europe’s Ian Poulter and how he always seems to show up well-suited for this style and event every two years. These players thrive in the high-stakes, high-pressure environment of the Ryder Cup. If part of the task force is to scout these types of guys, then great.

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At this point, the only thing we know is that a Ryder Cup task force has been formed. Its agenda and strategy are unknown, except for a stated general purpose to evaluate and improve the process.

While it is probably a knee-jerk reaction to a problem that may not exist, the opportunity is out there for this group to do some good. And what is there to lose by forming this task force? A loss in 2016 will be more of the same. A win and it will like be hailed as the new “template” or “formula” for USA success.