Sports

Captain’s decisions prove costly to U.S.

WRONG MOVE: The choice made by U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III (left) to sit Phil Mickelson (center) and Keegan Bradley Saturday afternoon helped lead to the Americans’ defeat on Sunday, writes the Post’s Mark Cannizzaro. (Reuters)

MEDINAH, Ill. — When Martin Kaymer’s 5-foot putt disappeared into the hole on the 18th green at Medinah shortly after 5 p.m. “Rory McIlroy Central Time’’ Sunday, the Ryder Cup was officially won by the Europeans and lost by the Americans.

The truth is, though, the Ryder Cup was lost by the Americans the day before.

The seeds to the result that shocked the golf world Sunday — Europe 14 1/2, U.S. 13 1/2 — were sown Saturday by two ill-fated decisions from U.S. captain Davis Love III.

The first was Love’s most catastrophic coaching blunder: Opting to sit Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, his two hottest players, in the afternoon four-ball session.

The second was more subtle: Love, with his team leading 10-6 entering Sunday, did not front-load his singles lineup with his biggest guns in an effort to put Europe away early, instead playing prevent defense with the likes of Tiger Woods and Jason Dufner at the back end.

Mickelson and Bradley had been unstoppable, having won all three matches together in the first sessions, including a record-tying 7&6 rout of McIlroy and Lee Westwood in their Saturday morning foursome match.

Love, like a baseball manager hopelessly stuck playing statistical percentages and incapable of making a gut-feeling decision, stuck with his preconceived plan not to play any of his players in five matches because statistics show that players who played five matches did not fare well in singles.

The best managers and coaches do it by feel. Love should have had enough feel to know he needed to lay the hammer down on the Europeans while he had them on the ropes by sending his two studs back out on the first tee Saturday afternoon. After all, they needed only 12 holes to dust McIlroy and Westwood in the morning.

Coaching decisions in sports can be measured on what the opposing team thinks of them. If the opponent is happy with a decision made by the other team, then it was likely a poor decision. And there wasn’t a player on the European side who wasn’t delighted to see Mickelson and Bradley on the bench in that fateful fourth session, because no one wanted a piece of those guys.

Love defied one of the most sacred tenets in sports — stick with the hot hand and fuel momentum — and it cost him as the Europeans scratched out the last two of the four points Saturday afternoon.

We’ll never really know, but if Mickelson and Bradley played Saturday afternoon, maybe Europe would not have stolen those two crucial points in the final two four-ball matches.

Both Mickelson and Bradley dutifully played the role of good soldiers when they publicly supported Love’s decision to sit them, knowing their captain would be second-guessed for it.

But if you know anything about the competitive makeup of Mickelson and Bradley, you know both would have played that Saturday four-ball match on crutches.

As for the singles lineup, Love should have learned from the mistake 1999 European captain Mark James made that helped the U.S. dissolve the same 10-6 deficit Europe erased Sunday.

Fearing a U.S. comeback, James back-loaded his lineup with his best players and sent his weaker players out early. That allowed the U.S., which sent its best out first, to begin its comeback early and gain the momentum that allowed them to win the Cup.

While Love did not have the same weak links on his team James did, his decision to bat Bubba Watson leadoff against Donald was a mistake. Watson is too flighty and hit-or-miss and he was all miss on Sunday with Donald dominating him and setting the critical early tone for Europe.

Love should have sent Mickelson, Woods or even the hot Bradley out first to combat Europe’s early artillery.

“In hindsight, we would have done a lot of things differently, I guess,’’ Love said. “I know I’ll get second-guessed. Put it all on me.’’