The captain of the American team for Ryder Cup 2008, Paul Azinger, has already shown great determination to do whatever it takes to wrestle the Cup back to the Americans in Valhalla in September. He introduced a radical shake up to team selection by doubling the size of his personal picks, from two to four, and has transformed the qualification criteria for the other eight players.
Now, he’s requested a change in the format of the competition itself. (more…)
Paul Azinger has announced his assistants for Ryder Cup 2008 – They are Raymond Floyd, Dave Stockton and Olin Browne.
Floyd and Stockton are both former Ryder Cup Captains and Olin is a Tour regular.
Raymond Floyd (64) is a four-time majors champion and a veteran of eight Ryder Cup campaigns, posting a 12-16-3 record and serving as Captain in 1989. He won one of his two PGA Championships at Southern Hills in 1982.
Dave Stockton (64) won PGA Championships in 1970 and 1976. He served on two Ryder Cup Teams, compiling a 3-1-1 record. Stockton was Captain in 1991, when the U.S. edged Europe out at The Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, S.C.
Olin Browne (48) is one of Azinger’s closest friends on Tour, and has had three PGA Tour and four Nationwide Tour victories since joining the PGA Tour in 1995.
Zach Johnson (31) was one of the suprise rookies who qualified for the 2006 US Ryder Cup Team and his win at this years Masters at Augusta National was no less suprising. Under the new US Ryder Cup team qualification system the Masters is one of only four events for which Ryder Cup points will be awarded for 2007, one point being awarded for every $1000 earned. Johnson’s last round 69, which secured victory over Tiger Woods in the pairing behind him for only his second ever PGA Tour win, his only previous win came at the 2004 BellSouth Classic. His win however could signify a golfer settling in for a long stretch at the top of a lot of leaderboards to come.
The win catapults Johnson from 56th to 15th in the overall golf World Rankings and the $1.2m prize cheque will help not only his wallet but his Ryder Cup chances also in a year when there is limited opportunities to earn those covetted points.
Well the worst kept secret in golf was formally confirmed today as the PGA announced that Paul Azinger is to be the US Ryder Cup Captain for 2008 as reported here last week. The more interesting part of the announcement at the Valhalla Golf Club (home to the 2008 Ryder Cup) was the newly unveiled qualifying system for the US Ryder Cup team.
A change was widely anticpated to try and stem the flow of US losses (the US have lost 6 out of the previous 7 Ryder Cup competitions, the last two by record margins). At an overview level the two main changes are:
Read on if you want the detailed breakdown of how the new US Ryder Cup qualifying system will work. (more…)
Paul Azinger is widely rumoured to have been selected to captain the US for the 37th Ryder Cup in Valhalla in 2008. Having represented his country in four times in the Ryder Cup, Azinger has a 5-7-3 record. He was never beaten in a singles match and bested both Ballesteros and Olazabal.
Azinger was born in Holyoke on Jan 6th 1960 and he turned professional in 1981. His career coincided with that of Nick Faldo and as well as sharing the ABC Sports commentary box for the last 2 years they have met in several epic matches including 4 Ryder Cup matches. (more…)
The first Ryder Cup pairings have been announced and it looks like it is going to start with a bang. They are as follows:
Match 1
(Time 8:00) Padraig Harrington/Colin Montgomerie (EUROPE – Ireland & Scotland) v Tiger Woods/Jim Furyk (USA) (more…)
Tom Lehman is bringing the US team over to visit the K Club in advance of their forthcoming Ryder Cup campaign. The team will be at the K Club next Monday and Tuesday (28th 29th) to play a few practice rounds. Woods and Mickelson who were previously thought to be set to miss the trip, due to previous commitments, have both now confirmed that they will be there. This gives Tom a crucial opportunity to let the team get to know one and other and work on the team tactics while soaking in the nuances of the Palmer course. (more…)
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The US Ryder Cup team to face Europe in this years competition at the K Club in Ireland in now complete. Following on from the completion of the automatic qualification phase yesterday where the top ten players who qualify by merit were finalised (see those results here) Tom Lehman has announced Scott Verplank and Stewart Cink has his two wildcard captain’s picks.
Tom Lehman’s choices were interesting in that they seemed to answer recent mutterings (more…)
Well the long race is over. At the end of US PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club the positions remain unchanged after another unassailable performance by Woods. The 10 automatic qualifying spots on the US Ryder Cup (see here for how this works) are as follows (final points tally is shown in brackets):
1. Tiger Woods (4825.000)
2. Phil Mickelson (2474.375)
3. Jim Furyk (2076.000)
4. Chad Campbell (1129.602)
(more…)
NB: Go here for the latest US Ryder Cup Points 2008
Here’s the latest standing for who’s going to make the Ryder Cup Team USA on merit. (See this article for how this works).
Ryder Cup 2006 Team USA Latest Positions (07 August updated!)
Position Player Name Points
1 Tiger Woods 4150.00
2 Phil Mickelson 2474.38
3 Jim Furyk 2076.00
4 Chad Campbell 1129.60
5 David Toms 1072.25
(more…)
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