One of the biggest fiascos in Ryder Cup history is the resounding failure to pair Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the 2004 edition in Oakland Hills. As the two biggest stars in the world at the time, Woods and Mickelson were expected to dominate, but they lost not once, but twice.
This unfortunate result has generally been attributed to their professional golf rivalry, which is said to have caused them to fail to understand each other as a team. While not denying that this may have been a factor, the captain of that team, Hal Sutton, has just revealed what he considers to be a more significant one.
Sutton recently gave an interview to Bunkered, in which he detailed how that week of the Ryder Cup unfolded. He explained that Mickelson changed his equipment shortly beforehand, which was a decisive factor in his results in the event.
“He knew he was disadvantaged because he didn’t know how far the ball was going,” Sutton said. “He didn’t know what his clubs were doing. He wanted help. He was really wanting help. I look back at that and I think, you know what, we should have cut them clean.”
The 1983 PGA Championship winner added that Mickelson even missed a practice round at Oakland Hills.
“On the Wednesday, he was out on the other course to try and figure how far the ball was going. He wasn’t even going to play golf. He didn’t play a practice round that day. I said to him, ‘There’s 35,000 people here to watch Phil Mickelson play and you’re going to go out on the other golf course?’”
Sutton added that the PGA of America, the governing body of the Ryder Cup on the American side, was fully aware of the matter. However, nothing happened.
“The PGA of America tried to not talk about it,” he said. “‘That was never the issue.’ But it was an issue and we all knew it. They swept it under the rug. It was very frustrating.”
Mickelson and Woods were paired twice on the first day of the 2004 Ryder Cup. They lost in the four-ball match against Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington, and then in the foursome match against Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood.
The two played two more matches each in the event. Woods teamed with Davis Love III on the second day and lost in foursomes against Harrington and Paul McGinley. That same day, Mickelson teamed with David Toms and defeated Miguel Angel Jimenez and Thomas Levet also in foursomes.
The following day, Woods defeated Paul Casey in singles, while Mickelson fell to Sergio Garcia.
The United States lost by a wide margin, 18.5 to 9.5.
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