The PGA Tour has barely struck its first shot in Florida, and there’s only the faintest whiff of the azaleas at Augusta, but somehow the 2006 Ryder Cup – an event that won’t take place until September – is already making noise in golf circles.
At first blush, the attention might not seem like such a good thing, given the fortune of the U.S. side in recent competitions. The Americans were routed 18 1/2-9 1/2 in the 2004 matches at Oakland Hills, part of a run that has seen the Europeans take four of the past five matches.
However, there are signs that a reversal of fortune may be in the offing for the red, white and blue. If nothing else, the fact that the conversation is on something other than Hal Sutton’s cowboy hats or the disastrous pairing of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson is indicative of progress.
The first step came last fall during the Presidents’ Cup, when Jack Nicklaus not only split Woods and Mickelson, but found suitable partners for both in Jim Furyk and Chris DiMarco, respectively. The success of those pairings reverberates today and provides the 2006 captain, Tom Lehman, with a blueprint to begin planning for the K Club in Ireland.
Further buzz has come because of a change in how the American players are accumulating points for the event. The U.S. still amasses points from two years of competition on tour. However, in a new wrinkle, more weight is being given to events from this season. Players will earn 375 points for a PGA Tour win in 2006, up from 150 in the old system; those who finish 2-10 will have their points doubled. Meanwhile, major championship winners will receive 675 points, 375 more than before and 225 more than a major champion got in 2005.
“I think it will allow us to field a team that’s playing the best at that particular time,” Woods said last week. “That’s what you need to do. That’s what the European team has done over the years.
“I think the best way to do it is get the hottest players at the time (of the competition).”
Over the course of the season, the expectation is that the best players will rise to the top. However, in the early going, the weighted system has produced some surprises, such as Arron Oberholser parlaying his first tour victory, last month at Pebble Beach, into seventh place in the point standings.
“The idea is to make Year Two so significant that Year One wouldn’t have a whole lot of bearing unless you had an amazing, amazing year,” Lehman said recently. “I really believe it’s a great system.”
Of course, the player with perhaps the most upward mobility, and the one who may give captain Lehman the most trouble when it comes to selecting his team is … Tom Lehman.
When he was named to the position in November 2004, Lehman said one of his goals was to make the 2006 Ryder Cup team. That seemed a bit far-fetched at the start of the year, when he ranked 17th; however, top-seven finishes in his past three events have moved him to 10th.
Whether Lehman would actually become the first playing U.S. Ryder Cup captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 is a matter of conjecture. Bernhard Langer, the European captain in 2004, said recently he thought Lehman would give up the position if he were to make it as a player.
Footnotes
The USGA announced Wednesday that the 2008 Amateur Public Links championship would be held at Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora. The dates will be July 14-19.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
