Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson don’t ‘deserve’ to be Ryder Cup captains, says Brandel Chamblee

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will each have a chance to lead a Ryder Cup and/or Presidents Cup, predicts Brandel Chamblee, for whom it will be a dark day in hell when either golf great gets that opportunity.

“I absolutely will not deny that Phil was probably the man of the matches at the Presidents Cup, and this is in no way insinuating that Phil’s not at some point going to be a captain at the Presidents Cup Cup and the Ryder Cup,” the outspoken Golf Channel analyst said a day after he had called both aging superstars undeserving of such esteemed posts.

“He will be, as will Tiger, although there’s precedent for great players not being chosen as a captain in the Ryder Cup,” Chamblee acknowledged on GC contributor Matt Adams’ radio show on Monday.

Chamblee obviously hopes Woods and Mickelson end up in the “not being chosen” category. He made that clear after Lefty led Team USA to a dramatic, one-point victory in Korea and Tiger cast an absentee ballot for himself as one of Davis Love III’s right-hand men at the 2016 Ryder Cup.

Woods was apparently so psyched by what he watched from afar at the Presidents Cup as he recovered from his latest back surgery, that he phoned DL3 to offer his services in whatever capacity when the Americans welcome the Europeans to Hazeltine.

Mickelson not only left his poor 2015 PGA Tour season back home but kicked International butt, talked trash and as the MVP of the Korea games became the Buddha belly-rubbing good luck charm for his team.

Why then, with the elder statesmen of American golf displaying such fervor for the two team events in which the U.S. takes on the world, should the powers-that-be bar the legends from ever taking the reins of the Ryder Cup?

Over to you, Brandel.

“I don’t really think it’s appropriate to give players leadership roles in an event they didn’t show interest or passion for when they were competitors,” Chamblee said during a post-Prez Cup roundtable chat in which participants threw Mickelson’s hat into the vice-captain ring. “If they had, Tiger Woods would have had a record more commensurate with what he did in match play (almost a 90 percent win rate). He was 13-17-3 in the Ryder Cup.”

While Chamblee’s history as a Woods critic is well-known, this time his prime target was Mickelson, largely for his public criticism of 2014 Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson.

“I think he did corrupt this team from the inside out,” said Chamblee, who raised issues from as long ago as 2004, when Mickelson changed golf clubs and practiced by himself ahead of the matches. “These are not leadership-type qualities. I get it. Everybody looks up to him and respects his record. I understand that and now that he wants to be a part of it, he wants to be in it, he wants to control it. But really should give it to people who have passion for it.”

With Tiger following Lefty into mentoring young golfers who grew up idolizing him, and players’ pick Mickelson going 3-0-1 and revving up his teammates last week, both would seem logical future Ryder Cup commanders. We doubt that when Jordan Spieth was patting Phil’s tummy on his way to a 3-2 record last week that he was ruminating about how Phil dissed his team 11 years ago -- when the current world No. 1 was 11.

But while Chamblee would nominate current players like Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk as assistant RC captains (and probable future leaders), he would never vote for two of their generation’s greatest players.

“Phil and Tiger, in my opinion,” Chamblee stated, “they don’t deserve it.”

SB Nation video archives: The ugly fallout from the 2014 Ryder Cup (2014)