PGA OF AMERICA COMMITTEE GET THE BALL ROLLING

USA RYDER CUP TASK FORCE HOLD 

 

FIRST MEETING

FROM GOLF.COM
By REX HOGGARD

The PGA of America held the initial meeting of the U.S. Ryder Cup task force on Tuesday at its South Florida headquarters.
As first reported by GolfChannel.com, the 11-member panel met via a conference call for more than four hours, beginning at 3 p.m.
“We discussed a wide array of issues including the selection process for captains and vice captains and more,” PGA president Derek Sprague said in a statement. 
“Today was the beginning of a process that is designed to create the conditions for long-term Ryder Cup success. We have more work to do and look forward to gathering again to complete the work of the task force.”
The task force – which was created following the U.S. team’s five-point loss in September at Gleneagles – includes Sprague, PGA CEO Pete Bevacqua, vice president Paul Levy, Raymond Floyd, Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods.
Most of the player representatives are either playing the Franklin Templeton Shootout (Stricker), the PNC Father-Son Challenge (Love) or on vacation (Fowler and others) and joined the meeting via a conference call.
While the agenda for the meeting remains unknown, last week at the Hero World Challenge Stricker seemed to give a general outline that has been echoed by other player representatives.
“I think just address some of the situations, some of the areas that we feel like need to be changed,” said Stricker, an assistant captain for this year’s American Ryder Cup team. 
“There are a lot of things that are going to come up during that task force, little things that could mean a lot in the long run.”
A second meeting of the task force is tentatively scheduled in February during the Farmers Insurance Open.
PGA officials met with Paul Azinger last month and the 2008 captain gave an outline of the alterations he would make in an attempt to change the U.S. team’s fortunes in the matches.