Originally Posted by
mr. synellinden
Very interesting. While I like neither Mickelson nor Watson, and I still think Mickelson should have waited for these details to come out and not criticized his captain in that manner, this article, if true, explains why Mickelson did what he did, and I'm sure a lot of it was motivated by a desire to stand up for his teammates, whom I'm sure he thought were disrespected by Watson.
OMG! What a screwed up team and coach! Here are the money quotes, suitably reduced to comply with the "Fair Use Doctrine:"
Phil Mickelson's candid and blunt assessment of U.S. Ryder Cup fortunes last Sunday night at Gleneagles was in response to, among other things, captain Tom Watson's approach to what was supposed to be a Saturday night team-bonding session that turned ugly, sources told ESPN.com this week.
Four sources who witnessed the proceedings in the U.S. team room at the Gleneagles Hotel said that
Watson took no responsibility for any shortcomings, scoffed at a gift that the U.S. team members gave him, ridiculed several European team players and started the proceedings by denigrating the Americans' play that afternoon.
"You could have heard a pin drop in that room,'' one of those in attendance said. "He was pissed. It all went from there.''
This is an embarrassment to the PGA and the USA.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013