Upset by personal criticism from Thomas Bjorn

I WAS READY TO RESIGN AS
RYDER CUP CAPTAIN, SAYS
IAN WOOSNAM
Ryder Cup skipper Ian Woosnam has told the Belfast Telegraph that he was so upset by Thomas Bjorn’s personal criticism in the wake of not being a wild-card selection that he was prepared to resign.
"All it would have needed was for my players to show the slightest reservation about my captaincy and I would have walked. That's why I got them around a table and asked them point-blank,” said Ian who had taken as many of his team as were available – Darren Clarke, Luke Donald, Jose-Maria Olazabal, David Howell, Padraig Harrington and Paul Casey – to the K Club in Ireland to have an in-depth look at the Ryder Cup venue.
"I had to know if any of them agreed with Thomas Bjorn," he said. "What he'd said really knocked me sideways. I was still reeling out there."
"MOST PATHETIC ..."
Bjorn had accused Woosnam of being “barmy” and “the most pathetic captain I’ve ever seen.”
"I sat them down and said, 'If anyone's got a problem with me being captain and agree with Thomas in any way, then speak now'. Fortunately, there was a silence and to a man they backed me, as did the other boys I spoke to on the phone. That was the vote of confidence I needed. I could move on and concentrate purely on the match. Thomas Bjorn was forgotten then,” said Woosnam.
"You know, some of what he said about me was actionable," said Ian. "And I did consider suing. But in the end I didn't want to put a shadow over the competition or what it should, and has been, remembered for."
Woosnam also revealed that a long-standing suspicion of golf writers came to the fore again as
"Some of their articles in the wake of it all confirmed to me why I've never trusted the press," he said. "They weren't content just to report what Thomas said. A few had to twist the knife in further. It was like open season against me and anything and everything seemed fair game.
"They had a go about my intelligence, about me being rude and careless, about my height even, although what's that got to do with my suitability to being a captain, God only knows.
GOOD CAPTAIN
“What I did know was that, when the play got started, I'd be a good captain. I've never claimed to be a good speaker and all the way through was very honest about how nervous I was about that aspect of the job. But I never had any anxiety about my knowledge of how to get that little ball down the hole and the best way to give the players the best environment to make it possible.”
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