Nicklaus could be Ryder Cup solution

28 September 2007 Sapa-AFP

MONTREAL — The secret to reviving the US Ryder Cup team might just be Jack Nicklaus, who has an easy-going attitude as US Presidents Cup captain, and the new US PGA Tour playoff chase.

Nicklaus, who has won a record 18 Major championships, is guiding the US at the Presidents Cup against a non-European Internationals squad which started last night at the Royal Montreal Golf Club.

“Captain Nicklaus has been a tremendous captain and that’s why we keep asking him to come back and hoping he accepts, because we love him,” said world No2 Phil Mickelson.

The US has a 4-1-1 edge in the Presidents Cup, where most players are those on the US PGA Tour rather than the European Tour.

Nicklaus lost his 1998 cap-taincy debut in Australia, then drew a titanic clash at George in SA in 2003 and finally won in 2005 in suburban Washington.

“If I had been smart I would have gotten in my captain’s cart and ridden off into the sunset. But I was never that smart,” Nicklaus joked at the opening ceremonies on Wednesday.

Nicklaus’ humour and light touch — letting players decide who they want to play alongside in pairs matches — is a stark contrast to the tension-packed Ryder Cup, where US teams have lost five out of the past six starts against Europe.

“We’ve talked about it,” US veteran Scott Verplank said.

“Last year about 3am Jim Furyk and I were sitting in the hall of the hotel trying to figure it out. Neither one of us knew what we were talking about.

“I can’t put my finger on it, but I guess things go in cycles and it will probably turn around.”

Nicklaus said he would accept an offer to guide the US Ryder Cup team but added that he thought his time had passed.

He guided the US home triumph in 1983 and a 1987 home loss to Europe, the first US Ryder Cup defeat on home soil.

Twenty years later, his true time might have come at last.

“Most guys are comfortable picking who they want to play with. I think that has helped in this event,” Verplank said.

“Jack says, ‘If that’s what you want to do let’s do it’. I had not particularly noticed it being that simple in the Ryder Cup.

“Ryder Cup has been a case of captains more just saying, ‘You’re playing with him and he’s playing with him’. I don’t know if that makes a difference.”

Mickelson called Tom Lehman, last year’s US Ryder Cup captain, “one of the best captains we’ve ever had” and was uncertain what help a more casual leader like Nicklaus would have been. “We didn’t play very well.”

The southpaw said what might help the US cause more is a revamped scheduled that puts several key season-ending events just before the Ryder Cup, meaning players will arrive at the event just as they are peaking.

“I think what will positively affect form in the Ryder Cup will be the FedEx Cup,” Mickelson said. “It will keep everyone competitive and keep their games sharp up to the event.” Sapa-AFP