Over The Top

The congenital excesses of the British press are clearly on view in the intemperate abuse being heaped on Nick Faldo after Europe's Ryder Cup loss. Faldo's supposedly terrible singles strategy - sending out his emotive firebrands first and keeping his solid, stolid veterans in reserve to bat cleanup -- was basically the same strategy as winning team captain Paul Azinger's, and if it weren't for Anthony Kim's drubbing of Sergio Garcia in the first Sunday match, it might have worked.

This is not to mention that the role of captain really doesn't matter much! Maybe strategy counts for a couple of points plus or minus, but the US margin of victory was five points. As Ian Poulter said, "we got beat fair and square." Amen.