Where can Team USA improve before the 2027 Ryder Cup? Jim Furyk identifies 3 key areas
· Yahoo Sports
Jim Furyk got what he wanted without being pushy.
Visit asg-reflektory.pl for more information.
The 2027 United States Ryder Cup Captain admitted that he didn't want to throw his "name in the hat" for captaincy but said he was confident in his experience and knowledge could help an American roster come back from consecutive losses in Rome and Bethpage Black.
"I'll be honest, I was hoping I'd be approached," Furyk told reporters ahead of the 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club outside of Philadelphia.
It's ironic Furyk's entry into the job can be seen as passive. He's committing his players take the exact opposite approach.
"It's not going to be easy — we have to scratch and claw, but I think we have the talent to be able to do that," Furyk said of the mentality the team needs to have to win on foreign soil for the first time since 1993 at The Belfry in Wishaw, England.
"We need to create a blueprint; we need to create more continuity for our players and for our future captains," he added. "And we really need to start making the Ryder Cup more of a priority each and every year, year in and year out, and focus on growing and evolving into the future.
Furyk said his interest was gauged the week before this year's Masters and he accepted the job the week of the tournament.
"This is something that I quite honestly have been thinking about for years because I've been involved with so many teams," said Furyk, who has served as Ryder Cup vice captain the last three events after leading the American team in a losing effort at Le Golf National in 2018. "As soon as Bethpage kind of ended, I really started taking a lot of notes and writing things down and moving forward."
What needs to be done starting now
Furyk's Wednesday press conference expectedly leaned toward his plans for Team USA ahead. He's already named Justin Leonard and Stewart Cink as his vice captains for Adare Manor.
In addition to creating a culture of continuity, he highlighted three areas for improvement: logistics and travel, playing foursomes and analytics.
"It's no secret that foursomes has been a glaring problem. Our team play the last two Ryder Cups on Friday and Saturday, we've dug massive holes," said Furyk, who turned 56 on Tuesday and was born just 11 miles from Aronimink at Chester County Hospital. "But foursomes is the glaring problem."
When it comes to approaching analytics, Furyk said he'd like "to leave no stone unturned" while noting that no decision has been made yet.
"One will be made here in the next month, that's my job," he explained.
"There's a number of different ways to look at analytics, a number of different ways you apply them," he added. "I look out at the range, and everyone's got a TrackMan or a quad out there. I know a lot of the equipment reps, they call that the drama box. So when used properly, it's a great tool, and it really helps. But used improperly, I've seen a lot of guys mess their games up using the drama box.
"So I think the same thing applies with our analytics, numbers crunching. It's the application that becomes very important. That's something that we need to look at and improve on. Surely that doesn't fall totally on scouts. That falls on captains as well and me included."
The human element
Furyk was not shy in skirting the fact that it was his responsibility to strike the right balance between using stats for pairings versus succumbing too much to the math and falling down the proverbial rabbit hole.
The two-time Ryder Cup winner said communication, like many things in life, is the key to solving this dynamic.
"I hate to hear someone say that, 'Wow, I feel like so much of it revolves around analytics,'" Furyk said. "I think it's a useful tool; I think the European side would say the same thing. But there's a lot of human element into that, and there's a lot of decisions the captains have to make to put these players in a good position."
"So how we've applied them and, more importantly, how we've discussed that and how that communication has been with the players needs to get a lot better," he added.
Scoreboard does not measure effort
In tying up the lines of communication more firmly between the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup (which he has served as captain in 2024), Furyk said his goal was remove players from feeling like they're "playing with a different offensive coordinator every year."
He stressed that Team USA was not prepared for the foursomes format — both in the latest Presidents Cup win and the most recent Ryder Cup loss.
"We had pretty much a blowout win by seven points, and we lost the foursome matches by three points," Furyk said of the 2024 Presidents Cup. "It's pretty glaring that we're not prepared for that format."
As far as priorities go, that's the top on Furyk's mind.
"We cannot continue to dig the holes we are on Friday and Saturday," he said.
"It's hard to — we've tried, and we almost overcame that at Bethpage, but it's hard to overcome those holes," he added.
To that point, Furyk was adamant the most recent Ryder Cup loss did not stem from a lack of effort.
"Let's not put the result on the effort ... they were scratching. I think they were clawing. I think they gave us 110 percent," he said Wednesday. "Did we get the result we wanted? No. Did we play our best? No."
Camaraderie is intact
Furyk was dismissive of the idea that the Americans lacked a tight bond or certain players don't get along.
He called the suggestion "low-hanging fruit" and said he was not buying into the excuse of camaraderie as reason for the recent Ryder Cup defeats.
"It's an easy way to describe why a talented team didn't get the W. I've said it, and I'm going to continue to say it: I don't buy it," he said. "I've been in that team room. I've seen the joy. I saw '21, the cigars, the hugs, the beers, you name it. I've also seen the tears, and I've seen guys and what it really means to them to be a Ryder Cup player.
"I know how special it was for me to play in the Ryder Cup. It's my favorite event. So I don't buy that, but I think it's an easy way to figure out why we haven't been successful, but it's not the right way."