Americans change the system to stop the rot

FOUR CAPTAIN'S PICKS
FOR PAUL AZINGER IN
2008 RYDER CUP MATCH
Paul Azinger, appointed captain of the United States Ryder Cup team for the 2008 match at Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky has changed the method of selection of the American line-up.
The major change is the Azinger, pictured right, will have four captain’s picks instead of two as in the past.
The other big change is that the other players gaining automatic selection will come straight off a new-style money table in which one point will be awarded for every $1,000 earned at the four majors in 2007 and US PGA Tour events in 2008 + DOUBLE points for finishes in the 2008 majors.
Azinger is obviously trying to ensure that his team in 2008 will reflect the Americans who have been playing well in the build-up to the match.
One criticism of the selection process that produced a United States line-up that lost for the third Ryder Cup match in a row at the K Club in September was that it did not include enough players who had been winners earlier this year.
Whether Azinger can claim all the credit for the changes is a moot point. There had been rumblings on the other side of the Atlantic that something would have to be done or not only the American public but also their players would lose interest in playing in a match that Europe always won.
A far cry from the days when Jack Nicklaus was instrumental in the Great Britain team concept being replaced by a Europe line-up so that the Americans did not win nine times out of 10.
++Other golf news from the United States is that Tiger Woods has formed his own golf-course design company - Tiger Woods Design. He says he is now looking for land on which to design golf courses. Untried though he is as a golf course architect, the name "Tiger Woods" will have land-owners queuing up to have a course which is designed by the world's No 1 player.