How To Win The Ryder Cup: Paul Azinger

2008 at Valhalla, USA 16 ½ Europe 11 ½

My captaincy actually started before I actually accepted the job. We had lost five of the previous six matches so something or things weren’t working. My feeling was that the first change had to be made in the qualifying system and selection process. I told the PGA of America that if they didn’t change the way the team was arrived at, we may never win again. Two years was too long and money not points had to be the barometer for selection. I wanted to go to a year, but eventually we compromised. The Majors from the previous year still counted and the Majors from the year of the matches counted double.

My next demand was that I had to have four picks, not two. My plan was to split the side up into four three-man ‘teams’ or three four-man units. I went with the latter. It became known as the ‘pod system.’ My philosophy was to empower the players and create the best environment for them to be successful. We put the players into their groups based on personality types rather than style of play. Then everything began to fall into place. The pairings came from those smaller groups and the players became engaged and invested in each other for the first time ever. They got to the stage where they were as concerned with how to make their partners better as they were with their own games. They really cared about each other.

I had an assistant overseeing each group. And what ended up happening was that the groups themselves made the decisions on who was best to play in each of the different formats. I had already decided that all 12 players would play on the first day. So everyone had to be ready to go. One of my goals was for them to gain confidence from my confidence in them. I had the order for the singles written down. And it played out perfectly. We had choices. We could go with the rookies first and ‘anchor’ with the veterans. We could do just the opposite. We could go ‘willy nilly.’ Or we could go in the order of the pods, which is what we ended up doing, on Phil Mickelson’s suggestion.

We started with the ‘aggressive’ pod of Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan, Justin Leonard and Mickelson. Then we went with the ‘redneck’ pod of Kenny Perry, Boo Weekley, JB Holmes and Jim Furyk. Last up was the ‘quiet’ pod – Stewart Cink, Steve Stricker, Ben Curtis and Chad Campbell. I had to laugh when I looked at the order. It was exactly the same as the one I had written down in my pocket. But the players made the decisions as I explained what I wanted. We were all invested in each other and bonded by the secret of the ‘pod’ system. It was an outsidethe-box philosophy. And it worked.