Paul Azinger, the mastermind behind the U.S. victory in the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla, figures it\u2019s high time that the PGA of America adopts a long view towards America\u2019s fortunes in the biennial event. Next week at the Senior PGA Championship, Azinger intends to make a pitch to new PGA of America CEO Terry Clark to create a permanent position in the organization dedicated solely to what has become the PGA\u2019s most valuable asset.<\/p>\n
Azinger is passionate about the Ryder Cup and believes the PGA should hire an individual to oversee the competitive details for the U.S. team. Call it Ryder Cup Director or some such title, but it would be a role filled\u2014perhaps for a decade or more\u2014that sets the tone for the U.S. squad from the captaincy down to the 12-man team and also digs into details such as course setups, overseas scouting of venues, and overall culture and messaging.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to have a conversation about the importance of a long-term vision as opposed to every two years we look around and say, \u2018OK, who gets it [the captaincy] next?\u2019 You have to have someone whose sole job is putting it together,\u201d Azinger, 66, told Golf Digest. \u201cThe way we\u2019ve been doing things, it feels like we start out two points behind because they [Europe] have things so buttoned up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have directors, and they have tremendous continuity,\u201d Azinger said of the European contingent, which is 9-3 against America in this century. \u201cOur side, we have people on the organizational side that have things down pat; that part of it is excellent. But we have to do more when it comes to getting our guys prepared for three days of high-pressure golf.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only U.S. wins since 2000 have come in 2008 under Azinger, 2016 with Davis Love III at the helm, and the 2021 edition in which Steve Stricker oversaw America\u2019s record 19-9 victory at Whistling Straits. With Luke Donald in command, Europe has won the last two, including a hard-fought two-point triumph at Bethpage Black last September in New York. The Englishman is returning for a third stint as European captain in 2027 at Adare Manor in Ireland.<\/p>\n
Azinger, whose innovative ideas include the creation of the \u201cpod\u201d system that also has been adopted by the European team, already has made brief overtures to some PGA officials, but the former PGA champion hopes to have a deeper discussion with Clark at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla., where Azinger is a member. <\/p>\n
With Tiger Woods withdrawing his name from consideration to be the 2027 skipper, the PGA of America has some decisions to make. And rather soon. Azinger isn\u2019t so much interested in throwing his hat into the ring as he is filling the director role, which among other responsibilities is finding the right man to take on the captaincy\u2014perhaps for more than one edition\u2014and then not just building a team but a program.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I\u2019d like to do the job [as director] or at least have some input into what the role should be,\u201d he said. \u201cI have some ideas on what I would like to see happen. It\u2019s just all about preparing our side as thoroughly as possible. And if we lose, it doesn\u2019t fall on the captain, it falls on the director. Their side doesn\u2019t sit there throwing it together every two years, and you see the results.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Azinger, the mastermind behind the U.S. victory in the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla, figures it\u2019s high…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[552,44,54,6739,6740,82],"class_list":["post-15715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ryder-cup","tag-ryder-cup","tag-golf","tag-news","tag-paul-azinger","tag-paul-azinger-wants-to-shake-up-the-us-ryder-cup-system-hes-about-to-pitch-his-idea-to-the-pga-of-america","tag-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}