Steve Stricker returns to captain’s role at Ryder Cup

When the dust settles after every Ryder Cup, it is usually the losing side’s captain who has to endure the harshest criticism.

Was he too stubborn? Too timid? Too easily swayed by players’ opinions, or too set in his ways? What was he thinking, picking that player? And how could he leave that one on the bench?

Hindsight is always 20/20, of course, but at the end of the day the players have the biggest impact. The captain can’t hit the shots. But he must make sure the players are comfortable, confident and prepared for every match.

U.S. Captain Steve Stricker has a tall task this week at Whistling Straits (in his home state of Wisconsin, no less). How will he lead his side as it tries to win for just the third time in the past 10 Ryder Cups? The same way he carried himself during his successful playing career. As quietly as possible.

Right from the start, Stricker will set the tone for the week. He will bring the U.S. Team together for a meeting – reiterate the standards he expects from his 12 players – and then he will remind them of their equal distribution in ownership of the squad. Stricker wasn’t selected to be an authoritarian. His strength as a leader is his devotion to his players.

It won’t be a rant and rave type speech. It certainly won’t be a ‘Win one for the Gipper,’ kind of deal. But there might be a few tears if he mentions how proud he is to lead such a talented bunch into battle.

Stricker has the chance to join rare territory. A place currently only occupied by the late, great Arnold Palmer. He can join Palmer as the only captains to win the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup on their first attempts. But he won’t be mentioning this to his team.

“The main thing is all the players love Strick and they respect him. They’d probably run through a wall for the guy if they can. That’s going to be the environment that’s created for the Americans,” said Paul Azinger, the victorious U.S. captain in the 2008 Ryder Cup who will call this week’s matches for NBC.

“Steve is a guy who doesn’t say a lot. He’s not real loud. He’s not the rah-rah cheerleader type. But he is well thought-out and when he speaks, it’s always something you should be listening for,” said Vice Captain Jim Furyk, who was the United States’ leader in the last Ryder Cup. “He’s a lead-by-example type of person. A hard worker and a good man. And the guys will have a good time with him once again.”

Stricker will keep it light, in part to put his six rookies at ease before they take on an experienced European Team. Equal parts fun and business. He will remind the team of the talent that got them there, but there will be no over-produced multi-media for motivation. No reminders of Europe’s wins to fire them up. Noo hype videos of their own dominance or success. This is a new team. A one-off.

How do we know this? Because Steve Stricker has been here before. Not as Ryder Cup Captain, but as the 2017 Presidents Cup Captain. Stricker presided over one of the most dominant team performances in modern times at Liberty National. His U.S. Team almost won the Cup on Saturday – before Singles. In fact … they should have.

Needing 15 points to retain the Cup, Stricker’s team led 14.5-3.5 after Saturday. Only a late swing in one match keeping the U.S. from clinching it a day early. Some Saturday-night celebrations were cited as one possible reason for the Internationals’ win in the Singles session, which only made the final score 19-11.

That week gave us the window to the blueprint Stricker will look to provide again.

“With Steve as captain, the Ryder Cup week will feel like a Presidents Cup where it’s a little bit lighter,” said Jordan Spieth. Spieth was mentored by Stricker in his U.S. team debut at the 2013 Presidents Cup, and the pair have had a special bond since.

“Stricks just doesn’t have ego … and we all (on the team) have a bit of one – so his attitude will bring a lightness to the team room. That’s what I remember from 2017. We were all in such a great mood,” Spieth adds. “We would go back after playing or practice and we might be tired but we were all pumped to hang out with each other. He made that environment.”

Stricker will tell his side he has complete faith in them. He will remind them that adversity may come, but they can handle anything. They are the best players in the world. And they are playing under a common flag, with a common goal.

He will reiterate who they will be playing with. What pod they are part of. But those pods were put together as much by the players themselves. They have ownership of that. There won’t be any surprises. And he will make sure all the obligations and the minutia that can come with such a big event isn’t a blip on the players radars.

“What he did and does so well is just let us play,” said Justin Thomas, whose caddie, Jimmy Johnson, worked several years for Stricker. “He asks questions when he feels the need or wants opinions, but once pairings are figured out – everything to do with when we want to hit shots and practice – that’s on us.

“Other than the stuff we are forced to do – where as a captain he unfortunately has to kind of babysit us – he just lets us play. He’s been on these teams not that long ago and he understands we are great players who are on the team for a reason. He is such a good dude and I love playing well for him.”

Stricker will knock any perceived camaraderie issues on the head at the start. Drama is the stuff of legend in team events, but Stricker won’t have it. What Bryson and Brooks feud? He will nullify it, likely with humor. Phil Mickelson, making his debut as a vice captain, knows how to use the needle to build camaraderie.

Mickelson will nail it. But Stricker will be tuned in to his players feelings and when a private moment presents itself, he will make sure no one feels like a lesser part of the group whole.

“Any coach who knows his team knows there’s certain guys who will respond to a pat on the back and other guys who will respond to a kick in the ass,” said former Ryder Cup teammate Justin Leonard. “Stricker knows who those players are and knows how to go and approach them if he needs to. Strick is prepared for everybody on that team.”

But can one of the nicest guys to ever play the PGA TOUR really get firm with his players if need be? Is there a danger that he is perhaps too nice? Can he stand up and have his voice respected if they’re not dominating like they were in 2017?

“There is such a thing as being too nice in these environments but he’s not that,” Thomas said. “He’s very fiery and I love that about him and it’s something I didn’t know about him until 2017.

“He wants to win badly. He is very competitive. My caddie Jimmy has told me stories about him on the course and it’s cool to know he had that side of him. It is a reason he was so successful – he managed his emotions well. No one would know he would get frustrated or was pissed off because he learned how to play that way and channel it into good golf. It’s an attribute I continue to try to learn from him.”

Vice Captain Davis Love III, another former U.S. captain, was given a similar label. But Love III says Stricker won’t stand aside if tough decisions need to be made.

“He’s very decisive. He asks for our opinions but you can always tell he’ll make the call. Tiger tells us, you’re the captain, make a decision. Steve is very good at that,” Love said. “Steve and I are very similar in that we get very emotional; we don’t want to be the bad guy and we don’t want to hold guys down or tell them what to do. But when it comes time to it, he’s very good at it. I really respect the way he handles things; he is quiet about it, he doesn’t make it about him, he makes it about the team.”

Stricker will also stick to his plan. He will stick to it because he has been meticulous in his planning and he is confident in his cattle. And he has seen firsthand how a steadfast leader under adversity can inspire this group.

Half of his team this week was at the 2019 Presidents Cup, where Stricker dropped back to the captain’s assistant role while Tiger Woods took charge. But given Woods was a playing captain, Stricker’s role remained as crucial as ever.

As the International Team had rare success in the team section of the competition, questions were thrown at the U.S. leadership to change their pairings. Adjust on the run to stop the bleeding.

“Stricker will stick to his plan. I don’t think he’s going to be one who says, oh, boy, we’re behind on the first day, we need to change everything up,” said John Wood, a longtime caddie on several U.S. teams who now works as a TV analyst. “That was huge in Melbourne with Tiger as captain because there was a point where it looked like we might be down 9-1 or 8-2. At that point, you kind of mail it in. … But Tiger never seemed to waver in these are my partnerships. This is my team. We’re not changing anything. By the end of all these matches, we’re going to be ahead.

“Stricker is going to be very much like that. This is my plan. I’ve been working on it for three years now. He’s an emotional guy, but I think he’s going to be very matter of fact in his decision-making, and I think that’s huge knowing that this is what we’re going to do, period. Behind, ahead, it doesn’t matter. It just gives you some confidence going in knowing that the captain believes in his theory.”

So where does Stricker’s style come from? It’s a mix from many sources.

He played under Palmer (1996), Jack Nicklaus (2007) and Fred Couples (2009, ’11, ’13) in his five Presidents Cup appearances, and Azinger (2008), Corey Pavin (2010) and Love III (2012) in his three Ryder Cup appearances.

He’s also been a Presidents Cup captain’s assistant to Jay Haas (2015), and Woods (2019) and a Ryder Cup vice captain for Tom Watson (2014) and Love III (2016). That’s given him plenty of different perspectives on how to shape his own captaincy.

“I think watching what Azinger did in the 2008 Ryder Cup, even back to Palmer and Nicklaus and Davis,” Stricker said in 2017. “I think they listened to the guys. They listened to their players. Jay Haas, the same way. They wanted that input, and they made it really easy for the guys. Especially Azinger had the whole team involved. Everybody had a vested interest.

“I remember I was a pick for Azinger, and immediately he said, ‘You're on the team,’ and then he's like, ‘Who would you like to see as another pick?’ I mean, he just had me as a pick and now he's asking me who I thought would be a good fit for the team. I thought that was really cool and gets the whole team involved with the decision. … That was really important to see, what Zinger did and how he paired the guys together and made those pods.

“Then I guess I just kind of liked the easy demeanors of Jay Haas and Davis Love and how that all works. The guys really seemed to respond to that.”