By Steve Keipert

Expect the value of the captain’s role to receive a full post-mortem in the wake of this Ryder Cup, especially after Phil Mickelson implied the US squad was better managed in 2008 by Paul Azinger.

An eighth defeat in the past ten Ryder Cups has the Americans looking for answers and Mickelson was quick to draw parallels with their most recent successful campaign when Azinger openly shared his ‘pod’ system and strategy that led to a resounding defeat of Europe six years ago.

A glum Tom Watson listens on during the post-Cup loss press conference. PHOTO: Getty Images A glum Tom Watson listens on during the post-Cup loss press conference. PHOTO: Getty Images

Mickelson, who sat out all of the second day at Gleneagles for the first time in his ten Ryder Cup appearances, queried the process adopted by US captain Tom Watson, who was the last successful American Ryder Cup captain on European soil, in 1993.

“There were two things that allowed us to play our best that Paul Azinger did [and] one was he got everybody invested in the process,” Mickelson said in the presence of Watson.

“He got everybody invested in who they were going to play with, who the picks were going to be, who was going to be in their pod, when they would play – and they had a great leader for each pod. We hung out together and we were all invested in each other’s play. We were invested in picking Hunter [Mahan] that week, we were invested in the process.

It would seem the benching of Phil Mickelson by Watson on day 2 has strained their relationship. PHOTO: Getty Images It would seem the benching of Phil Mickelson by Watson on day 2 has strained their relationship. PHOTO: Getty Images

“The other thing that Paul did really well was he had a great gameplan for us; how we were going to go about doing this, how we were going to go about playing together, if so-and-so is playing well, if so-and-so is not playing well – we had a real gameplan. Those two things helped us bring out our best golf. We use that same process in the Presidents Cup and we do really well.

“Unfortunately we have strayed from a winning formula in 2008 for the past three Ryder Cups and we need to consider maybe getting back to that formula that helped us play our best.”

Watson was diplomatic in response: “I felt that the assessment of the players was paramount from the standpoint of my vice-captains and me to see who was going to play with whom,” he said. “My two jobs are to make the captain’s picks and then put the team together. The bottom line is the Europeans kicked our butts. They were better players this week.”

Regardless, Watson made some debateable decisions, including resting Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth for the first afternoon’s foursomes matches after they’d walloped Ian Poulter and Stephen Gallacher 5&4 in the morning fourballs; sitting out Mickelson and his potent sidekick Keegan Bradley for the entire second day; and squeezing one more match out of a drained Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker after most of their matches went all 18 holes.

Yet these hindsight analyses are always part of the fabric of a Ryder Cup autopsy – Watson could just as easily have looked like a genius had his decisions produced points.

Some experts, including Mickelson, are calling for the Paul Azinger to be returned as captain. PHOTO: Getty Images Some experts, including Mickelson, are calling for the Paul Azinger to be returned as captain. PHOTO: Getty Images

Where the US side struggled was in the foursomes matches. They took more points from the fourballs than the Europeans and almost matched their opponents in the singles. The damage was done by not winning a match in alternate-shot and banking only one point via two halved contests. It’s a curious situation given how the American side routinely thumps the Internationals in the foursomes format at the Presidents Cup.

Another commentator never shy of sharing an opinion was former Tour player and now Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, who described Mickelson’s words as being “as close to a one-man mutiny that I’ve ever seen”.

“If you’re looking for a reason why the United States continues to lose, you just saw it in one man: Phil Mickelson. Phil Mickelson, along with the best players of that era, have so corrupted the experience of the Ryder Cup for their fellow competitors by not having records anywhere near what they should, given their rank in the game,” Chamblee said during commentary.