Golf is not life. It’s WAY more serious than that.

Writers from across Europe apparently are pushing Nick Faldo under the bus for the European Ryder Cup loss. One newspaper called him “Captain Calamity.” The Times of London said that while Azinger inspired his players, Faldo “inspired chaos.” The Daily Mail wrote “Nick Faldo, not the crowd, was America’s 13th Man.”

John Huggan, a golf writer for several publications, including The Scotsman and Golfworld has gone after Nick Faldo for the European Ryder Cup loss.

In GolfWorld, he writes:

In contrast to the cold-blooded silent assassin (and record Ryder Cup points-scorer) that was Faldo the player, his erratic and emotional job as captain was jarring even to British eyes and ears used to the six-time major champion’s legendary level of self-absorption. Beyond a succession of head-scratching tactical decisions during the matches themselves, Faldo perpetrated any number of faux pas during his week-long stay in Kentucky.

The low moment, among many from a man once described by his second wife, Gill, as “a 24-handicapper socially,” was his speech during the opening ceremony. In an embarrassing ramble through seemingly every member of his family, the history of Ireland and a series of accents Inspector Clouseau would have rejected as too unlikely, Faldo perplexed the vast majority of his audience.

Introducing Padraig Harrington, Faldo was moved to stereotypically comment that the British Open and PGA champion had “hit more balls than potatoes have been planted in Ireland.” Introducing Ulsterman Graeme McDowell, Faldo asked, “Do you come from Ireland or Northern Ireland?” Not too long ago, bad men were killing each other over similar queries. And let’s not even get into his intro of Søren Hansen as “Søren Stenson.”

A similarly scathing retort is found in his Scotsman article:

EVER PERVERSE, Nick Faldo did exactly what we should have expected of him when he named Paul Casey and, more particularly, Ian Poulter as his two finishing touches to this year’s European Ryder Cup side. Faldo’s oversized ego was never going to be comfortable choosing someone with Darren Clarke’s strength of character. Nor, for similar reasons, did he shed any significant tears over not picking the dreadfully off-form Colin Montgomerie.
“Faldo clearly didn’t want anyone in the team room with the potential to rock his boat,” points out one former Ryder Cup player who prefers to remain anonymous. “The 2004 Ryder Cup was all about Monty and his divorce; 2006 at the K Club was all about Darren and the tragic death of his wife; Nick wants Valhalla to be all about him.”

Harsh words, but even a cursory review of Faldo’s career reveals the extraordinary level of self-absorption that made the six-time major champion one of the most unpopular players of his or any other generation. It is perfectly logical that he prefers to be surrounded by those too young to remember any of the many and various slights felt by his direct contemporaries. As is his reluctance to add a second vice-captain alongside Jose Maria Olazabal. As ever, it’s Nick’s way or the highway.

Matt Dickinson of The Times Online writes:

The biggest surprise, as it turns out, is not that Nick Faldo made the bad call going into the final day of the Ryder Cup but that he did not make the call at all. As the players spoke before scattering across Europe, it emerged that Faldo had played only a supervising role in drawing up the singles running order. “We pretty much chose where we wanted to play,” Ian Poulter said. In admitting so, he thought that he was doing his captain a favour.

As an insight into Faldo’s leadership, that revelation has to be regarded as alarming, even by those who believe that the Europe captain has been flogged too harshly for losing the Ryder Cup to the United States. There we were marking Faldo down as a man who wanted to micro-manage this team to victory when the reality was that he sat in the Brown Hotel in Louisville allowing his players to dictate strategy, like Sven-Göran Eriksson in his last days as England head coach. How old-fashioned of us to think that selection was the captain’s business.

I really think that these criticisms are out of line. While Faldo probably did make a tactical mistake in not leading with his best on Sunday, he can’t be blamed for the fact that the core of his team simply was outplayed. His pick of Ian Poulter—much derided before the tournament—turned out to be genius. Garcia—the vaunted Ryder Cup giant-slayer—simply fizzled. So did Harrington. (To be fair, both of these apparently had health issues.)

And as for Faldo’s lack of social graces ... well, everyone knew what they were getting. You can’t pick a guy with such a strong personality and then expect him to change. This is, after all, the guy whose ex-wife described him as a “24-handicapper” socially.

You might have expected it. The calls have gone out for Paul Azinger to return as Ryder Cup Captain. Veteran golf writer Doug Ferguson has an article in USA Today:

No one spent more time in the PGA of America hospitality room last month at Oakland Hills than Corey Pavin, presumably to start lobbying to be the next U.S. captain for the Ryder Cup.

The list of candidates has rarely been this short, nor has it been so obvious.

“Zinger in 2010,” Phil Mickelson said after the Americans reclaimed possession of the Ryder Cup.

He certainly has one thing on his resume that recent US Captains haven’t had: a win.

My question is whether his approach would work again. I think it’s possible that his act would get “old” and that next time out, the players wouldn’t listen to him as much. Of course, its probably just as likely that his success has bred a respect that would carry over.

My guess is that if he wants the job, it’s his.

I missed this one. Apparently Tiger was watching the Ryder Cup and offered his support via text messages:

World number one Tiger Woods, a frustrated absentee from this week’s Ryder Cup, has been busily sending the U.S. team messages of support.

“The greatest player in the world is sitting at home watching and text messaging me and everybody else he can find,” U.S. captain Paul Azinger told reporters after Saturday’s fourball matches at Valhalla Golf Club.

“He texted me 10 times yesterday, at least. He likes to heckle. I kind of told him he needed to step up his heckling skills a little bit and he brought it today.

“I didn’t know he could take it to such a high level, so I give him credit. He has been great.”

That was good of him. Seriously. He could have been a total putz and just blown the thing off.

Gregg Doyel may be laying it on a bit thickly, but he also may be right. Anthony Kim’s dismantling of Sergio Garcia may be the herald of a new superstar in golf.

We’ve been waiting for another one. Not for another Tiger Woods, exactly, because getting one Tiger Woods was miraculous enough. But we’ve been waiting for another one, another superstar, another American golfer with the moxie and the mental toughness to match his superstar skill.

And on Sunday, he arrived. Wearing a jewel-encrusted belt buckle. In the colors red, white and blue.

No ordinary Ryder Cup rookie, cocky young American Anthony Kim drew the enormous assignment of playing the first of Sunday’s 12 individual matches—and responded by destroying the best Ryder Cup player of this generation. Kim’s 5 and 4 demolition of Sergio Garcia gave the United States an enormous psychological lift and just enough of a scoreboard cushion to hold off Europe and bring home the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1999.

He’s good, but Hunter Mahan had 3.5 points in four matches to Kim’s 2.5. Still, as Doyel put it,

Kim is so cold, he refused Garcia’s request on the first hole to concede both putts. Garcia was farther away, maybe 3 feet to Kim’s 2½, and when he looked at both ball locations and raised his eyebrows, Kim shook his head. No, Sergio. You’re going to have to putt that one. Nothing comes easy today.

And nothing did. Kim poured it on like Georgia Tech against Cumberland College, hitting shot after shot near the pin and getting up-and-down from greenside bunkers. Kim was so confident, he made the most remarkable concession I’ve ever seen. It came on the fourth hole when Garcia ran a low pitch to within 3 feet of the hole. Pick it up, Kim said from the fairway, before running his own approach shot to within 4 feet and burying his putt to halve the hole.

Garcia was done. He dunked two shots in the water on No. 7. The crowd was hooting, and Kim asked them to be even louder. On the next hole Kim reached into Garcia’s chest cavity and removed his heart by getting up-and-down for par from a bunker as Garcia was missing a makable birdie putt.

That’s dominance of the sort that Tiger routinely imposes on his playing partners in the final round of Majors.

A few thoughts about the 2008 Ryder Cup, in no particular order.

I am naturally glad to see the Ryder Cup return to the United States—not just for jingoistic reasons (though there is a great deal of that)—but also because golf benefits when such events are competitive. In an ideal world, the Cup would change hands every two years, with the Euros winning on their home turf, and the US winning on its.

Paul Azinger should be proud. He made some solid Captain’s picks, and they came through for him. In particular, Hunter Mahan and JB Holmes really shined. Mahan lead all American players with 3.5 points, and Holmes tied several others for second with 2.5.

Steve Stricker was the weak link, getting just half a point in three matches. I think he might have been a good pick LAST year, when he was riding a hot streak. I think I would have gone with Rocco Mediate instead. He’s a real scrappy player, as illustrated by his US Open performance.

I’m really glad for Kenny Perry. He laid it all on the line this year to make the team, taking a great deal of criticism for skipping majors. But his goal was to cap his career with a Ryder Cup victory in his home state. He got his wish.

Kenny strikes me as one of the good guys on tour. That he has remained in Kentucky, eschewing the typical golf millionaire trappings in Florida or Arizona speaks volumes. One of these days, I’m going to drive down and play the course that he built for his hometown.

Anthony Kim is going to be a real star. But I think I’m going to get tired of him very quickly. Those AK belt buckles are obnoxious. And his goal of becoming known as “the baddest man on the planet” doesn’t give me any hope.

Maybe he’ll settle down as he gets older. Otherwise, he could become America’s Sergio Garcia—hopefully minus the cup spitting.

Booooo. Does anything else need be said?

I will add something else. I love it when he answers the television interviewers with “Yes Sir” and “No Sir.” I’ve read several times that Sam Snead cultivated the “hick” image for his benefit. I don’t think Boo is cultivating anything. He is what he is.

On the European side, the big story has to be the disappointing performances of Harrington, Garcia and Jiminez. Garcia has built a reputation as a Ryder Cup star. You wouldn’t know it from this year’s performance.

Padraig Harrington, I’ve heard had a bad neck. If that’s so, he has an excuse. But perhaps he should have taken a medical leave like Luke Donald. Surely a healthy Monty would have fared better than a gimpy Harrington.

Speaking of Luke Donald, he was very much needed. And I think that Johnny Miller was right when he said that the European team also needed Monty. And Darren Clarke. And Olazabal.

Ian Poulter clearly was the star of the European team. Faldo made an excellent choice there.

If I’m behind going into the last day, I lead with my best, and hottest players. Garcia going first was a good idea, given his history. But I would have had Poulter second. You’ve got to do something to try to take the crowd out of it, and a crushing victory by Poulter would have done the trick.

I thought it a bit of an oversight when the announcers kept saying that the Ryder Cup had the world’s best players. Not quite so. The event doesn’t include such stalwarts as Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Ernie Els, Rory Sabbatini, Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley, etc.

I love the format of the Ryder Cup. It is just so much more interesting than run-of-the-mill PGA tour events. I really think that the PGA Tour should look into doing some events in a match play - team play format. To help ensure that the best players are still there on the weekend, they could use a round robin, or double elimination format.

The President’s Cup is next year at Harding Park in San Francisco. I look forward to it.

Does the Nationwide Tour have a similar event?

Once again, the American crowds were wildly enthusiastic. And once again, the European team resented it. If they want to continue playing the Cup, they’re just going to have to get used to it. We’re just not as sophisticated or cosmopolitan as the Europeans. None of that post-modern, deconstructionist stuff for us here in Middle America. We love out country and love to see our representatives do well.

Just a thought. Do the fans at European soccer matches sit quietly and appreciate the efforts of the opposing team, not saying a word for fear of offending someone’s sensibilities?

In a perverse way, I’m glad the American fans were raucous. Now the Euros can stop whining about Brookline and focus on whining about Valhalla. The whole Brookline thing had gotten old about six months after that event was over.