Phil Mickelson Ripping Tom Watson To Shreds At A Press Conference While Tom Watson Sat Just A Few Feet Away Was Pretty Awkward
Jeeeeeeesus. So that was pretty awkward, huh? Phil Mickelson basically calling Tom Watson a moron for how he captained the Ryder Cup and that the strategy he used was nothing short of embarrassing. Phil made a few waves during press conferences last week. First he fired a shot at Rory and Graeme for their legal battle and now he took it a step further by ripping his own team captain in public. It would’ve been awkward had Phil simply made the comments to the media in general but it kicks it up a notch when the person you’re ripping is a just a few feet away from you. Now obviously Phil was pissed that Team USA got walloped by Team Europe but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. I can’t even imagine what the room felt like as it was happening. You can kind of get a feel for it if you watch Hunter Mahan while Phil makes his comments. The dude can’t stop fidgeting around, twiddling his thumbs, looking at the ground and trying not to have a look on his face that says, “Holy shit, is this happening right now?” Didn’t work too well. He just kept squirming. I also enjoyed the part where after Phil talks they smash cut to Tom Watson like, “What do you think about that, Tom?”
As far as the validity of Phil’s comments, maybe he’s wrong and maybe he’s right. Watson for sure made some questionable decisions during the Ryder Cup (not playing Spieth and Reed during the afternoon session of day one, sitting Phil and Keegan for a full day, etc) but at the end of the day, it really is up to the players to play well. I don’t know any of the behind the scenes stuff but it just looked like the Americans were simply overmatched by the Europeans. Pod systems and communicating with the golfers is up to the captain whether or not he wants to do those things. Tom Watson chose not to. Maybe some day Phil will be a Ryder Cup captain and he can do what he wants. But oh man, something tells me Phil and Tom Watson aren’t going to be having dinner together any time soon.
I think the lesson here is that a press conference probably shouldn’t be held immediately after a team gets crushed in the Ryder Cup like the Americas did. The wound is too fresh and there might be some hurt feelings and some comments made that’ll upset people. But it was pretty entertaining if you ask me.