MEDINAH, Ill. – The Presidents Cup is not over yet, but Brandt Snedeker is already blamed for what has happened so far: his American team is in a 3-point hole before the Sunday Singles matches.
At the end of an up-and-down day that seen the Americans reduced a deficit of four points at three, their captain conducted a TV interview in which he said he was proud of how they had done, “despite all my mistakes”.
A short time later, Snedeker had launched his line of singles and was asked what he meant by “mistakes”.
“I’ve been trying to work my tail off to put these guys in the best situation possible, and I don’t think I’ve done a good enough job this week to be where we are right now,” Snedeker said. “They aim to put me in the best position where I’m comfortable. I hold myself to a high standard. I don’t think I did the best job for them in that room.”
Snedeker was asked to elaborate a bit more on what he meant, and while he continued to explain, he didn’t offer many specifics.
“I mean, there’s a lot of different ways, whether it’s through matchups or whatever,” he said. “There are a thousand different ways that I can think of right now. Honestly, I guessed a lot to be in this situation.”
Snedeker found himself in an enviable situation, leading the Americans to perhaps their first loss in this event in 28 years. It’s part of the deal he signed. At one point, he has a lot of control over the business, and at another point he has very little. He made zero shots and spent most of the week riding around in a golf cart. And at the same time, it was his decision place the first player in the worldScottie Scheffler, for Friday afternoon’s foursomes session – a move that will inevitably be criticized as the Americans split the session, 2-2.
“I had some ideas about – Scottie puts the world on his shoulders, and he puts his whole team on his shoulders and takes a lot. I was really trying to get some energy for tomorrow. I know tomorrow is going to be a big day.
“It’s obviously a tough decision, a really tough decision to sit the best player in the world and probably one of the best players I’ve ever seen in person. I just want to put him in the best situation tomorrow to go out, and have a good day and rest a little.”
There is an awkward balance for captains to strike between gut instinct and analysis and player form and friendships and relationships. Snedeker thinks he didn’t get it right, clearly focusing on how much, or how little, “comfort” his players felt.
Paul McGinley, a former Ryder Cup captain and one of the Golf Channel commentators Live From (and also a very close advisor to the modern approach of Team Europe), shared some pointed remarks on Saturday night about Snedeker’s admissions.
“(It’s) a little surprising,” McGinley said. “Give a lack of confidence to your teammates watching that interview. It was too open. It was too honest. It’s not the time to say. The fat woman didn’t sing yet… I don’t think she made massive mistakes here… did they come prepared? The closing here of these games is not what I see on the PGA Tour, which was close to the Tour. with a cold heart, duffing shots and making mistakes at crucial times.”
Here lies the heart of the matter. A captain is only as good as his preparation, and Snedeker has repeatedly stated how he holds himself to a high standard. But a team is often only as the performance of its players, which at this point resulted in International 10.5, USA 7.5.
The good news for Americans is they had 12 matches to rectify the feelings of his captain on Sunday in Medina.
“These guys are ready,” Snedeker said near the end of his press time. “I’m telling you, they’re ready. This place has a strange history. A lot of great things happened here. I can’t wait to watch it all tomorrow.”
