Posted by Jason Sobel
ATLANTA -- As I checked into my hotel last night, a tall, solitary figure beat me to the front desk. "Sorry," he said, but I waved him off. He got to the front of the line first, fair and square.
That man was Paul Azinger. After he was given a room key and started to walk away, the hotelier called him back and handed over a single, plain, sealed envelope.
I allowed my mind to wander. Could that envelope possibly be from the PGA of America? Might it contain the news that Azinger is the next United States Ryder Cup captain? Should I run over, rip it from his hands and find out for myself?
Suffice it to say, none of that happened. And the letter may not have had anything to do with his role in the 2008 Ryder Cup. Whatever the case, it turns out we didn't have to wait much longer to find out the news. At 12:49 p.m. today, the Associated Press reported that the captain's position now belongs to Azinger.
Now the questions will flow quicker than an Ian Woosnam-chugged pint of Guinness. Let's examine four of 'em that are sure to make headlines over the next 22-plus months until the competition takes place at Valhalla:
Was Azinger the best choice to captain the team?
Sure, why not? Not to be flippant with my response, but does it really matter anymore? Reportedly, Azinger's main competition for the position came from Fred Couples and Corey Pavin, and I believe that any one of them could have done a swell job. Of course, Azinger is a more in-your-face, say-what-he-means type of guy than the other two. That'll mean one of two things: Either players will respect the fact that he speaks his mind and pulls no punches, or they'll grow weary of his incessant truthfulness. Remember, Hal Sutton was brutally honest, too.
Here's the thing: Ryder Cup captains are remembered for one thing, and one thing alone. Was Ben Crenshaw a better captain than, say, Curtis Strange? The record books say yes, because Gentle Ben led his troops to a momentous Sunday comeback. But either way, the captain gets too much of the credit and takes too much of the blame.
Will Azinger help to revamp the current points system?
He'll work with the PGA of America to identify the 12 players most deserving of making the team. According to this year's points system, that list included the likes of Brett Wetterich and Vaughn Taylor -- players who were perhaps in over their heads a bit during the Ryder Cup.
Perhaps they'll revert back to the old system, which rewarded points from two years earlier on the same level as those earned during the current campaign. Maybe they'll now devote points to the top 10 Americans in each PGA Tour event, rather than just those American players who finish in the top 10. Heck, Azinger could put it all on himself and name 12 captain's selections. One suggestion a few U.S. players have offered recently includes a straight copycat of the European team's system. Basically, take the top five from the money list, the next top five from the World Ranking and two captain's picks.
Can Azinger motivate top players like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson into believing the Ryder Cup is as important as any major?
In a word? Nope. It's become all too evident in recent years that Monty, Sergio and the boys across the pond consider winning this team event bigger than any individual accolades they can attain. Azinger can preach such rhetoric to the U.S. players, but he'll be wasting his breath.
Yes, Tiger, Phil and every other Ryder Cupper badly want to come out on top at the biennial event. But, quite simply, they will never equate the thrill of a team victory to that of their own major championship. If Azinger's smart -- and he really is -- he'll say right off the bat that the Ryder Cup is the fifth most important tournament of the year. Consider it taking one for the team, as most of the guys know where it ranks but are afraid to say.
Will Azinger lead the U.S. team to victory for the first time since 1999?
That's the $10 million question. The hard part: The European team is eminently more talented right now and will be led by sly fox Nick Faldo, who knows a thing or two about getting 1-up on Azinger.
The easy part: Once again, the United States will be an underdog at Valhalla. Azinger's got nothing to lose, everything to gain and he'll be remembered as a hero if he actually pulls off a victory.
