Four years ago, in the aftermath of a rousing Ryder Cup victory over Europe by the Americans, a triumph led by captain Paul Azinger, I called vehemently for the PGA of America to break from its staid routine and retain Azinger to captain the 2010 team.
Azinger provided such a perfect blend of fire, experience, authority and a good plan to the team it seemed like a no-brainer to let him captain the 2010 team.
That, however, would have required out-of-the-box thinking from an organization that is as predictable as Tiger Woods wearing a red shirt on Sundays.
Never offering the job to Azinger (who wanted it but refused to lobby for it), the PGA followed its tradition and hired its so-called next man up on the profile list, Corey Pavin — and the Americans lost the Ryder Cup in Wales in 2010.
Pavin’s successor, Davis Love III, also failed to bring the cup home, captaining a losing U.S. side to a loss in September at Medinah.
So, in what has become a poorly kept secret in advance of today’s announcement of the 2014 captain, it looks like the PGA is finally opting to shake things up by naming 63-year-old Tom Watson.
Good for the PGA. Finally, it has loosened its starched white shirts and let its hair down.
Watson, who captained the 1993 U.S. team and would become the first return captain since Jack Nicklaus (1983 and 1987), is a compelling and bold choice for a number of reasons.
He is an authoritative figure who will command immediate respect from his players. He is not afraid to speak his mind, as evidenced by the way he has publicly taken on Woods in the past when he chastised him for his behavior.
So he surely will not be a captain skittish about hurting anyone’s feelings when making tough decisions about pairings, who sits, who plays, etc.
Too many Ryder Cup captains have been too consumed with keeping everyone happy, a weakness that has, at times, compromised the team’s chance of winning.
Watson, too, has won four of his five career major championships on Scottish soil, where the 2014 Ryder Cup will be played — at Gleneagles in Perthshire.
Watson captained the 1993 team at the Belfry — the last place the Americans won on foreign soil. Since then, America has won the cup just twice — in 1999 under Ben Crenshaw at Brookline and 2008 at Valhalla under Azinger.
Watson’s selection is a welcome departure from the PGA’s traditional way of choosing a captain — picking a 40-something former major champion who is still playing on the PGA Tour.
It had been widely speculated the 45-year-old David Toms, the 2001 PGA champion, would be the next captain because he fit the PGA of America profile.
Larry Nelson’s name has been mentioned as a possibility because of his three major championships and 9-3-1 Ryder Cup record as a player.
Nelson, because of his age (65), would have been a departure from usual PGA protocol, but his name seemed to have been raised because he was someone who had been overlooked back when he should have been named a captain.
So payback seemed more the motivation for hiring him.
Watson was not on the radar until he was asked at last week’s Australian Open about captaining another Ryder Cup.
“It would be cool to be a Ryder Cup captain again — ’93 was the last time I have been to a Ryder Cup,’’ he said. “I would like to go back again as a captain. It would be a great honor if I got tapped on the shoulder.”
On Tuesday, new PGA president Ted Bishop hinted at giving Watson the tap when he said, “We’ve done something a little bit different this year’’ regarding its next captain.
Losing seven of the last nine Ryder Cups seemingly pushed the organization to alter its thinking, and it is about time.