USA Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson has continued to gamble in announcing a second ‘old brigade buddie’ in Raymond Floyd to join Andy North as his Gleneagles vice-captains.
A day after www.golfbytourmiss.com reported the 64-year old Watson would have trouble even identifying the majority of players currently among the top-10 on the USA Team points table and Watson has picked a 71-year old vice captain who also would be unknown to all but two in the current 1o on the points table.
Ray Floyd will be 72 years of age when he follows Tom Watson out onto Gleneagles in September.
Watson’s selection of Floyd and Andy North, who he chose some months ago, makes the combined age of he an his backroom team as 204 years and that’s an average of 67 years apiece.
Watson has overlooked the credentials of triple winning Presidents Cup captain, Fred Couples, 2008 winning Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger or defeated Medinah captain, Davis Love 111 in favour of a pair of PGA Tour OAPs.
No one could be far removed from the PGA Tour than Floyd or North.
Okay, North is a TV analyst and is present at a number of PGA Tour events but how many players competing last week at Pebble Beach would have known North if they’d bump into the 1985 US Open winner?
Watson has gone with two players very much in his own age bracket but also two players so many years removed from the PGA Tour.
It’s not the first time in the history of the Ryder Cup Watson has selected Floyd, as the now four-time Major winning Floyd was one of Watson’s wildcard picks for the 1993 Ryder Cup at The Belfry.
Floyd defeated Jose Maria Olazabal in the Sunday Singles that helped the USA Team to a two point success and the last occasion a US team won outside the States.
And Watson has justified the now 71-year old Floyd’s selection remarking: “The way he played the game, every shot counted.
“And that’s the kind of guy I want having my back. … What Raymond brings to the team is experience and the respect from the players. When the players look at him, they know he’s been there, understands the pressure, knows he’s won.”
For the record, Floyd is a veteran of eight Ryder Cup as a player and boasting a record of 12 wins, 16 loses and three halves.
Floyd was then appointed captain in 1989 and was also one of Paul Azinger’s assistant in 2008, when the U.S. last won the Ryder Cup.
“We don’t hit a shot,” Floyd said in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
“All of our responsibilities are to see that the players are comfortable, that they like the surroundings, to be an uplifting spirit, if you will. We’ve all been there and hopefully they will respond.”
Europe has won seven of the last nine Ryder Cups, including a 14½-13½ defeat at Medinah Country Club near Chicago in 2012, when the Americans blew a 10-6 lead on the final day.
The 40th Ryder Cup will be held at Gleneagles in Scotland in September.
European captain Paul McGinley, who is 5-0 in the Ryder Cup as a player and an assistant captain, has yet to select his assistants.
Watson will be 65 when the 2014 Ryder Cup is played, making him the oldest captain in Ryder Cup history, and has not played a full PGA Tour schedule in 15 years.
He will be the first repeat captain since Jack Nicklaus in 1983 and 1987 and with the span between his two stints as captain is 21 years, the longest ever.
