Davis Love III walked into the media center last week and was immediately treated to a wide-screen view of the 2012 Ryder Cup.
The affable Southerner did a nice pirouette, with a wry smile spreading across his just-turned 50-year-old face and said, "I’m not gonna do an interview with that on TV."
A move to the cafe down the hall offered little peace as televisions around the room replayed that fateful Sunday at Medinah, where the Europeans rallied from a 10-6 deficit to secure a stunning 141⁄2 to 13 1⁄2 victory reminiscent of the 1999 "Battle of Brookline" in reverse.
Over the weekend at the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship won by past Sony Open champ Paul Goydos, local golf fans were offered a rare treat to watch five former Ryder Cup captains roaming the Kapolei Golf Course.
Starting this Friday in Scotland, Champions Tour veteran Tom Watson will try to do what fellow captains Love, Corey Pavin (2010), Tom Lehman (2006) and Hal Sutton (2004) didn’t do — win. Since Ben Crenshaw’s dramatic victory at Brookline, where the Americans rallied on Sunday to win 141⁄2 to 131⁄2, the USA has hoisted the Cup only once, when Paul Azinger captained the 2008 American team to a 16-11 victory at Valhalla, site of the 2014 PGA Championship.
Crenshaw is all smiles when you ask him about that late September Sunday, where Justin Leonard’s long putt snaked in to halve the hole with Jose Maria Olazabal and secure the win. The celebration that ensued has been frowned upon over the years, but Crenshaw looks back on it fondly.
"It was a great honor to captain that team, one of the highlights of my career," Gentle Ben said after Sunday’s round. "We had a great team that year. They performed when they needed to. A wonderful makeup. Great veterans to lead the team in Hal Sutton and Tom Lehman. Everywhere I go, people want to talk to me about the Battle of Brookline."
But while Crenshaw can smoke a cigar and sip some brandy about the final Ryder Cup of the 20th century, the 21st hasn’t been as kind to the good old USA.
Mention the words "Ryder Cup" to Sutton, and you get the thousand-yard stare. His decision to pair Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson has been second-guessed more than any in Cup history.
Sutton, who suffered a mild heart attack in February, entertained the question of whether Watson sought any advice for this weekend’s pending matchup.
"He doesn’t need any advice from any of us," Sutton said in that slow drawl of his. He was already walking toward the clubhouse, a sure sign that this discussion would be short-lived. Then he stopped and hit his fist softly into the palm of his other hand.
"I want to say that representing my country as a player (in four Ryder Cups) meant a lot more to me than being a captain," Sutton said. There was pride in his voice, but also a hint of anger, as if his entire career had been defined by the failure at Hawk’s Nest, where the Americans lost 181⁄2 to 91⁄2.
As Sutton told John Hawkins of Golf Digest, "Nobody booed when I announced it (the Woods-Mickelson pairing)."
Watson will not have to deal with the fragile temperament of those two together, but he undoubtedly will face decisions that could be questioned in the future. Crenshaw smiled when asked if Watson came to see him.
"Tom is a good friend of mine," Crenshaw said. "This is his time, his team, but we will have to have great things happen because it’s a formidable task."
Yes, the Europeans are loaded with talent and are on home soil. Despite not wanting to watch the 2012 replay, Love is still enamored with the Ryder Cup experience. He was nervous last Wednesday just talking about it.
"It was disappointing for those guys," Love said of the 2012 USA team still on the TV replay. "But for me, it was a great experience. I loved it and I have great memories. I try to tell those guys like Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley, ‘You guys didn’t let me down, you gave it all you had.’ It’s just disappointing because they played so well Friday and Saturday."
Unfortunately for Love, the Europeans were playing equally well and that came through on Sunday.
"People don’t realize how well the Europeans played the first two days," Love said. "They played great to be only four down. It could have easily been six. They knew they were playing great and that they could come back. They knew it. For us to be in kind of a rut and not winning is very disappointing."
As for Watson?
"Early on we talked a lot about the organizational part of it," Love said. "Like picking out the clothes and about the young guys he didn’t really know; who was on the bubble and then who he was going to pick. Tom really didn’t know Billy Haas, Keegan Bradley, Chris Kirk, didn’t know them that well. So we talked a lot about stuff like that."
Lehman said Watson approached him as well. He believed all the past captains had been approached at one time or another to offer an opinion or three.
Like Sutton, Lehman was hammered 181⁄2 to 91⁄2 at the K Club in Ireland in 2006. It wasn’t the result he sought, but was an experience he won’t forget.
"It’s a great honor being selected as captain," Lehman said. "Unfortunately we didn’t get the result we wanted, but to spend a week in that kind of environment, that kind of intensity … well, you know what I mean. It’s hard to describe.
"I’m sure Tom talked to everybody wondering what to expect and how to handle all the things that go with being a captain. He’s got three great assistants with Raymond Floyd, Steve Stricker and Andy North. Tom’s in good hands."
Azinger left Corey Pavin in good hands after the Americans’ win in 2008. But his selection as captain was controversial after a lot of golf fans wondered aloud why not let Azinger do it again. Pavin got knocked off 141⁄2 to 131⁄2 but relished his role as captain.
He left Hawaii on Sunday night to travel to Scotland to take part in an exhibition match with three other past Ryder Cup captains on the eve of the 2014 event.
"I’m looking forward to it," Pavin said. "It should be a lot of fun. It was quite an experience for me, being captain. We didn’t win, so that hurts, but you’re a part of history. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything."
