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| An Interview with Curtis Strange |
An Interview With:
CURTIS STRANGE
GORDON SIMPSON: Curtis, thanks for coming in this morning, very good of you. You've now had a night to reflect. What are your final thoughts on the 34th Ryder Cup matches.
CURTIS STRANGE: Same as I said yesterday: It was a wonderful week for everyone. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fantastic, from my view, with the team and Sam and the camaraderie there and I saw a few of the guys last night and it was fun. Obviously you want to win. And as I said last night, I feel disappointed for the players. But you have to perform. You have to play. And we didn't get the job done. But it was a good week.
Q. Sam was saying yesterday that he was hoping the Europeans could be as gracious in victory as the Americans were in defeat. Is it some consolation that you were part of the healing process?
CURTIS STRANGE: Well, I think it just goes back three years. It's what I said at the closing ceremonies yesterday, Sam and I started this, and you're never quite sure if you're getting your message out until the actual event. And I think that with the way the week progressed, the fans were fantastic, the players, and everyone I think, yes, I think we did get our message out that we just want to -- we're 24 players playing this game to the best that we can. And we do the best we can and when it's all over, you say congratulations and move on. They all get along very, very well. You can be best of friends, but when you get on the golf course, you're going to do your best to win for your team, and that's the way it should be.
Q. Do you feel the Ryder Cup is now back on keel, though, that everybody sees it as the event it should have been?
CURTIS STRANGE: Yes, yes, I think exactly what you just said. You come in here, you get along, you play hard to win. And when it's over you move on. And I think that's exactly the way it worked this week. And I think both Sam and I are happy for that. We both -- we both won that one, and whoever the next two captains are, hopefully they continue the same thing.
Q. Where do you rank Colin Montgomerie's performance this week in recent Ryder Cup history?
CURTIS STRANGE: Where I rank it? He's their leader. I think after -- certainly Seve was their leader for a long, long time. And now with Colin it's just -- every team needs a leader. And not only by their play, but by the way they handle themselves, by the respect from their teammates and peers. And he's certainly that. Now that doesn't mean you're guaranteed to play well, but he played magnificent this week and not only led in the locker room, but also on the golf course. And they take their cue from him and he certainly didn't disappoint this week.
Q. Why do you think he performs like that in a Ryder Cup setting?
CURTIS STRANGE: I don't know. Who knows. He enjoys it. We all enjoy it. I don't know. The cream rises to the top, when the heat gets on. And he does that.
Q. He doesn't -- he tends not to do it as an individual, but in the team setting?
CURTIS STRANGE: I wouldn't tend to agree with that, seven Orders of Merit is damn good in my book.
Q. No majors?
CURTIS STRANGE: I think we tend to be critical of people that have been maybe unlucky, maybe just haven't performed well sometimes, but how can you not say he's been a great player, you just can't do it.
Q. Do you expect yourself to have to face another wave of questions when you get home about your order of play yesterday?
CURTIS STRANGE: Since we're in such a small group here, let's discuss this. What would you have done differently? I'm asking you.
Q. I would not have put Mickelson at the end.
CURTIS STRANGE: Don't arm chair quarterback me.
Q. I said it yesterday morning, you asked me.
CURTIS STRANGE: When you figure the matches are going to be tough or tight, you have to put your couple of guns at the end, it's as simple as that. If I had been sitting here as a winner, I don't think we'd be going through this, just because we lost doesn't mean -- I don't think just because we lost it's fair to second guess. It was a team effort. But I'm not putting this on the team, I'm the final decision. We all figured that matches were going to be close, and so how in the world can you not put your two best players at the end that can handle the pressure.
Q. When was last time the last match was pivotal?
CURTIS STRANGE: It's probably been a long time ago, but it's something that you can't -- now you're splitting hairs, because how can you guess? You can't guess on which match is going to be the pivotal one. You do the best you can. We lost. I look at it as I'm certainly not going to make excuses. We didn't perform well and we got beat. I think the way we played we would have gotten beat, no matter what happened. With the way the European team played and the way we played, they just played better golf. No matter how you line it up, they just got beat.
Q. When you looked at Sam's list was your immediate reaction that he'd got his list wrong or that you'd got your list wrong?
CURTIS STRANGE: I didn't look at it like that. I knew he was front-end loading, and I've never seen that before. And again, I thought it was a gamble. A gamble that really paid off.
Q. If you were on the European team now, would you persuade them to make Sam stay on with that performance?
CURTIS STRANGE: You know, that's not my call. He certainly did a good job this time, that's all I can say. He did a wonderful job, not only this week, but for the three years. We talked on the phone numerous times, and from the first day forward, as I said, he was one of the first phone calls I made on September 12th last year. But I can't -- I don't know what the European PGA is going to do. Whoever does it, Sam would be a good captain again, and whoever the next guy is will do a good job. I don't know the way -- I guess I'm saying I don't know the way the European Tour looks at that.
Q. What will happen now with your Tour, when they meet to discuss the next captain?
CURTIS STRANGE: I'm not involved in that, so I don't know what the PGA of America is going to do. There's some wonderful candidates there, but I don't know what they're thinking and whatever they're going to do. Whoever they pick will do a hell of a job.
Q. Tiger said that win or lose, you shake hands and have a beer afterwards, is that what happened last night?
CURTIS STRANGE: Yes, sir, it did.
Q. Did Tiger have a beer?
CURTIS STRANGE: He was under the weather. I probably doubt it. But he was around all night. But he didn't feel well yesterday. No excuses, I mean he played okay, but it was just one of those times he got under the weather, and certainly not a reason -- he actually halved, didn't he? He halved his match.
Q. He was suffering a cold?
CURTIS STRANGE: I don't know what it was. He had a fever, but I think he felt, on the golf course, he felt like it broke. He felt all right to play. He was fine.
Q. You said on Friday night that we'd know something about Hal Sutton come the end of the match?
CURTIS STRANGE: You know what -- exactly what I meant, because a couple of my guys were asking, too, what I meant because he's been such a friend of mine, and such a solid player, and, yes, he's struggling a bit. And when you leave -- when a guy wins a match, and then you have to sit him the next day or you do sit him, it's a tough call, because you feel so much for the matches and -- all these players want to go out there, all of them want to go out and play. If they don't, I don't want them on the team. And to tell Zinger or especially Hal that you're going to sit after winning a match is emotional for me to do and for him. And the way he took it, and knowing full well he was going to sit on Saturday. I knew that -- that I knew he was going to sit all day Saturday.
Q. There was no health or personal matter?
CURTIS STRANGE: No, no, it was just that -- later in the week you would find out that he wasn't going to play on Saturday. And I thought he'd do well yesterday, because that's the way Hal is.
Q. Do you agree with what Phil Mickelson was saying yesterday that the reason for Tiger's record at the Ryder Cup is purely an indication of 18-hole match play, anything can happen or do you think there are ways to get more out of Tiger at the Ryder Cup?
CURTIS STRANGE: Tiger comes to play every time he steps on the first tee. I said what happened to him last night, he said I made 16 pars and a birdie. I said no wonder you lost. You can't do that in 18 holes of match play. So I don't know. You have to ask him on that one.
Q. You've been living and breathing the Ryder Cup for two or three years, how difficult is it going to be to get back to normalcy?
CURTIS STRANGE: Well, it's not going to be this week, because I have to go play golf in a tournament at home. The TOUR event is at my home. So I think that's the last thing I would want to do this week. But after this next week I'm just going to sit back and relax and not have much to do. But you're right, I've thought about that, I've been so busy for the last couple of months, and just thinking it, breathing it and just -- it's going to be nice to relax, but it's also going to be -- I enjoyed it. I enjoyed this whole trip.
Q. Has anything surprised you or anything new come to you about match play, from what you've seen over the last three days?
CURTIS STRANGE: Not really. Good question, but when it comes down to it, I try to simplify it, it comes down to golf. It comes down to -- match play is a wonderful game, because it comes down to man against man, and who can rise to that occasion and perform. And there's certainly a lot of inspiration that can carry you through, like yesterday with the fans. Maybe that. The fans were so boisterous for their team that it really did inspire the team. You could see it on their faces, from the first hole on. But it's -- match play is just a different animal, in what we do every day of our lives.
Q. Is it part of the magic of the Ryder Cup, Curtis that players like Phillip Price can raise their game to a level?
CURTIS STRANGE: Absolutely. That's why we're all here. That's why all those fans are here, and a huge television audience. And I guess my first question when I get back home to my friends is how was it? How did it show on television? I'm sure it was fantastic. They saw the shots I didn't see. I saw Azinger's bunker shot, I couldn't wait to see it on the replay last night. Things like that is why we all come to these things. People hit shots, like I said yesterday, hit shots that they normally probably wouldn't hit. And it was -- it's neat to see. It's disappointing -- as disappointed as I am for Phil Mickelson, you can do nothing but applaud Price and the way we played.
Q. When you're a captain trying to win this so badly or a player, can you get a handle on what a good -- get a handle on what a good show it is or what great theater it is?
CURTIS STRANGE: No, I don't think so. You're in the middle of it. You really can't. I think you have to look at the outside in. I don't know if you guys and ladies can get a good handle on it, because we're right here in the middle of the event. And I think you'd have to all of go back and ask your friends how was it on television, how was it on SKY network, because those are the ones that get a feeling of how exciting it is, because they see so many shots, they hear the noise, everything.
Q. One thing that you'd like to say to whoever your successor is, one piece of advice that you have learned that might not generally be available to him, and if so, what would it be?
CURTIS STRANGE: Anybody who has the honor to do this the next time is going to be a well-qualified person. And they will talk and learn, as the two years progress, and I can't give them anything that they don't already know. Whoever will be my successor will have played in numerous Ryder Cups, probably, and has a good feel for what they would like to do. I guess every team takes shape, the type of personality from the captain, maybe. But I would just say carry on what Sam and I have tried to do. Because to me it's very, very important. And I think -- hopefully we get the word out -- you all have been great, hopefully we get the word out to the fans at home, and everybody will act accordingly. But I don't think I can tell them something they don't already know, no.
Q. Curtis, you keep speaking about how enjoyable the week was, and up to it. There was a moment out there when there were three halved matches or three matches undecided, and then McGinley holed from ten feet. Was there a big sinking feeling?
CURTIS STRANGE: Oh, yeah. I was right there in the 17th fairway, trying to pull Tiger through. I had the rest of the team with Davis Love trying to pull him through, and Tiger was still struggling. So I wanted to try -- because there was still hope. There was. Until McGinley's putt went in, there was hope. If they get that halve and then Davis pulls through, I think at that point we halved the entire match, which is better than losing, but when -- anyway, I heard the putt made and I was on the 17th fairway, and Tiger knew what was going on, I knew what was going on; yes, there was a sinking feeling. You lose.
Thanks I guys, it's been great this week.
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