At the behest of Captain Paul Azinger, the US Ryder Cup team selection process has apparently undergone a much-need revision.

The major change is that eight players win automatic berths on the 2008 team via a points-list based on money earned at PGA Tour events held earlier that season.
Double points will be on offer at the four majors, with single points available at the 2007 majors.

In addition, the number of Captain’s picks has been increased from two to four.

The presumed advantage of this system is that it will stock the US team with the players that are playing their best just prior to the Cup. Under the previous system it was possible for a player to play very well two years before the Cup and then cool off in the Cup year, but still have enough points to get on the team.

Kenny Perry is the poster child for the flaws in the old system. He won three times in 2003 and played poorly in 2004, yet had enough points to get on the team. He lost both of the matches in which he played at Oakland Hills.

“I think this is the best way,” Azinger said. “Money has always been the barometer. We are always rewarded based on our earnings. I really wanted a one-year system because I just felt like something a little more current was going to be the best way to ensure that we had the hottest and best American players on the team”

I like the idea—especially in doubling the number of Captain’s picks. In fact, I think that ALL of the picks should be Captain’s picks. No more of this automatic berth nonsense. And if I were Captain, Tiger would not be one of my picks. Nor would Mickelson. All of my picks would be young, hungry guys who play with passion and joy and exuberance. Who won’t scare their teammates. And who can jump more than six inches off the ground when they sink the winning putt at a major.

And I’d try to get Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy and Stuart Appleby to become naturalized American citizens.

But all silliness aside, it’s about time something was done. I still have my doubts that it will make much of a difference, but it’s about the only thing that could be done.

Now we’ll see if Azinger can get the American players to focus.

In one of the most bizarre columns I’ve ever read, Tim McDonald, “National Golf Editor” for Golf Publisher Syndication is blaming George Bush for our recent Ryder Cup loss. It’s so strange that I’m not going to grace it with a link. If you want it, you can Google it up.

At first I thought that the column was a joke. I’m still hoping that it’s a joke. But after reading it a couple of times, I don’t think that’s the case. McDonald really appears to believe that Bush is to blame. He writes:

Drop the excuses: The PGA Tour guys don’t care enough. They’re a bunch of coddled millionaires who don’t know how to form warm, personal bonds with anyone besides their press agents. The selection process is flawed. The captain is a dope. The course was set up for the Europeans. Pluto was downgraded.

No, no and no.

The reason we’re losing, plain and simple, is George W. Bush.

He’s turned the rest of the world against us.

Now I realize that the idea that Bush is to blame for all the world’s problems is an article of faith in certain circles (I do live, after all, in Ann Arbor, Michigan). But to pin the Ryder Cup loss on him is absurd. I can’t figure out how McDonald became the “National Golf Editor” without apparently knowing a whit about golf history.

Let me explain it to Mr. McDonald:  The Europeans are 6-3-1 since 1995. In 1995, Bill Clinton was president. What did he do to make the Euros angry? Saving them from their Bosnian problems, perhaps.

From 1917 to 1979, our record was 18-3-1. But since 1979, the record is 6-6-1. So the Europeans began to turn things around long before Clinton, even.

Last I checked, 1979 was under the Carter Administration. Therefore, I blame Carter. It was his spirit of “international fair play” that made us think we should allow the European continentals into what was previously strictly a US - United Kingdom match.

I guess we should be glad that McDonald isn’t the “National Political Editor” of some publication. Then he might blame our involvement in Iraq on our feelings of inferiority from our Ryder Cup Losses.

The Daily Mail is reporting that a Dublin magazine has published photos of what it purports to be a topless Elin Woods. “The Dubliner” magazine apparently published the photos under the headline “Ryder Cup Filth For Ireland.”

The Mail reports that Woods’ camp says that the photos are not authenthic. Indeed, the magazine’s claim that “Tiger Woods’s wife Elin Nordegren can be found in a variety of sweaty poses on porn sites across the web...” makes it seem pretty unbelievable. One papparazzi photo of a sunbathing Elin through a long range lens I could believe. A “variety of sweaty poses” is a little more difficult. Everyone knows she was a model, but I have never heard that she did pornographic material.

The magazine also reportedly:

goes on to claim that Chad Campbell’s wife Amy is a “ largechested singer” and suggests that Jim Furyk’s wife Tabitha “ married geeky Jim as his winnings hit £10 million”. The piece also says Sonya Toms, wife of David, finds it “liberating” to wear her bikini around the house.

Now, it is true that Mrs. Toms posed in a bikini for an issue of a sports magazine. And I have no idea about the proportions of Mrs. Campbell. But to allege that a man’s wife is a golddigger ...

In fact, the whole tone of the alleged article seems a bit off. I call it “alleged” article, because I’m not really sure the article really exists. The whole thing frankly sounds a bit like a hoax to me. While there IS a magazine called the Dubliner, it’s website makes it sound like a legitimate periodical—and not the sort that would need to stoop to such things for sales.

And if they did publish such a thing, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that it was a satire of some sort.

At any rate, I’ve got an email in to the editor of the magazine to find out the real scoop. And if anyone can confirm having actually seen the article, I’d love to hear from you.

More to come.