Olly has been a clueless Captain. Discuss

[Tiger]

How was Ollie overall?

IMO

He picked the obvious team, there were no other realistic options as far as I'm concerned, so pre match he was fine.

Day 1. His initial pairings were obvious (some might say unimaginative). Uninspired maybe, but not clueless.

Day 2 his pairings were more questionable. Is it always good to keep two 'pals' together? Obviously, because of his own history, he thought the answer should be 'yes' But after 2 consecutive defeats for McIlroy and McDowell he split them up and put an uninspired McIlroy with Poulter, which showed strength. I think the afternoon pairings made up for a weak mornings choices, so he got away with it.

Ollie stacked the singles in the only way he could. He had the world numbers 1, 3, 4, 5. None of them had so far played at their best and Westwood had been downright poor. Poulter had to be one of the first guys out, and we had to get a bit of blue on the board to have any chance.

Monty was saying how tough it is to try to be everywhere at one to keep lifting the players. I don't think Ollie was at his best on course tbh - Apparently he's allowed to give players advice. Both Kaymer and Molinari could have done with a bit more 'hands on' from him over the last couple of holes.

We actually had a day when the puts dropped, and the USA lipped out a couple of times. These are the margins that won the day for us, not great leadership from Ollie

As a captain I think Ollie was above average, although not inspirational. But history will say otherwise. Because of the result he will be remembered as one of our best captains ever.

Which is fine by me.

:thup:

Probably the best post on the thread. I did find it interesting that people blamed the players when Olly had control of the pairings and credit the captain for performance in the singles. In the end I don't really care I'm just glad we won but I do think that Team Europe made it hard for themselves going into singles Sunday and irrespective of how the course was set up and how the US players putted there were some questionable pairings in Team Europe.

At the end of it all I'm still in shock that we won but personally think that Ian Poulter should take an enormous amount of credit for inspiring the fightback.

Right I'm going to crock off now

 

[User20205]

How was Ollie overall?

Monty was saying how tough it is to try to be everywhere at one to keep lifting the players. I don't think Ollie was at his best on course tbh - Apparently he's allowed to give players advice. Both Kaymer and Molinari could have done with a bit more 'hands on' from him over the last couple of holes.

We actually had a day when the puts dropped, and the USA lipped out a couple of times. These are the margins that won the day for us, not great leadership from Ollie

As a captain I think Ollie was above average, although not inspirational. But history will say otherwise. Because of the result he will be remembered as one of our best captains ever.

Which is fine by me.

:thup:

he'll go down as a winning captain & that's all really that counts. re on the course advice he did, standing with Molinari on the 17th tee discussing club selection. The role of the captain is over played. There may be a method about putting players together in foursomes but fourball & singles is really about the players making their putts. Jose can't do that!

I was suprised on the negative reaction on the forum before the USA had reached 14.5 points. The post mortem had been done and blame had been apportioned. It felt a bit like fair weather supporting to me

 

[need_my_wedge]

I don't think he made it easy for himself, some of his choices were worrying, Westwood and Molinari on day one was a bit strange for me, not the best putters in the business. Dropping Poults and Luke whilst keeping Westy in was a mystery to me. I know he wanted to get everyone out to play, but Westy really wasn't playing well at that point. Poults is a matchplay player, always has been an would always be first on my team list, and Luke also a world matchplay champ would have to go on the top of the list too.

Having said that, perhaps it was inspired planning, trying to give the failing players more confidence and belief.......even though it didn't look good at the end of day two. The crux of it was, he had the best 12 players available to him, they should all have been able to go out and perform to a level capable of winning, and with one or two exceptions, they didn't over the first two days.

With regards to Ollie himself, the camera panned to him on quite a few occasions where he was sitting with his head in his hands or looking very forlorn. Maybe just the latin way, carrying his heart on his sleeve and emotions for all to see. Judging by all the positive comments from the team players afterwards, they all made a point of how inspiring he was behind the scenes, so perhaps we don't have any idea, and after it all, he is not a professional golf manager, just a player who's been volunteered to captain the team for the occasion.....

Whether it was down to Ollie's leadership, Poults passion or most likely a combination of both, it doesn't matter, day 3 was an awesome display, all the players that we had fears about finally showed us why they were there to pull it out of the hat, on that I'd say that Ollie had more of a clue than I did. He deserves any plaudits he gets.

 

[gripitripit]

Some of the pairings got us in trouble on the first 2 days but whatever he said inspired the boys on Saturday night and he must take some credit for the order of running in the singles. Come out firing on all cylinders and put the yanks on the back foot. It worked.

 

[Val]

Have you forgot this post. You made Westy the subject matter so dont cop out.

You my friend are a doughnut and faileld to read that post properly and many others that you comment on, you seem hell bent as always on having a go at posters without actually reading the content.

My post is on Oli's biggest failing not entirely about Westwood on it's own.

Do try and read the post again and in particular where I add the following at the end.

"Academic now but as far as I can see that was Oli's biggest fault"

Relevant in this post?

 

[Deke]

The fact that so many players said what a great captain he was speaks volumes,he had me in tears at the end when he broke down when mentioning his old pal Seve! The whole event was an emotional rollercoaster for him and he put his heart and soul into inspiring his team and they won,nuff said!

 

[FaldosJumper]

I don't know that much about golf. QUOTE]

Yip... you got that right, maybe you should shack up with Monty who changed his tone late last night from the previous 2 1/2 days...

 

[Tiger]

I don't know that much about golf.

Yip... you got that right, maybe you should shack up with Monty who changed his tone late last night from the previous 2 1/2 days...

LOL!!! I could have started a thread titled 'Do you think Olly got his pairings wrong for the first two days' but doubt that would have got the same level of response. I wanted to get a debate going and a polarised view works better in doing that. I would say I haven't changed my opinion. I still think that Olly made mistakes on the first couple of days BUT I think the team as a whole, including backroom staff, the Vice Captains, Olly, the players, the policemen that got McIlroy to the start line in time did one hell of a job to turn it around

 

[JustOne]

LOL!!! I could have started a thread titled 'Do you think Olly got his pairings wrong for the first two days'

If you had then YES he got them wrong - up until the afternoon 4-balls where (at last) he split up GMac and Mcilroy.

 

[Baldyeagle]

Only in the UK would we be discussing whether the Captain got it right or wrong after what was probably the most exciting comeback I've ever seen in any sport. Who gives a monkey's whether he was tactically perfect or didn't appear in every camera shot during play?
His team played their hearts out for him & that tells you everything you need to know about him as Captain

 

[Val]

Only in the UK would we be discussing whether the Captain got it right or wrong after what was probably the most exciting comeback I've ever seen in any sport. Who gives a monkey's whether he was tactically perfect or didn't appear in every camera shot during play?
His team played their hearts out for him & that tells you everything you need to know about him as Captain

The discussion started before the singles buddy. Can't fault the final result though.

 

[MegaSteve]

Only in the UK would we be discussing whether the Captain got it right or wrong after what was probably the most exciting comeback I've ever seen in any sport. Who gives a monkey's whether he was tactically perfect or didn't appear in every camera shot during play?
His team played their hearts out for him & that tells you everything you need to know about him as Captain

I think on forums there's a trait of pointing the gun ahead of the final whistle... On this occasion [thankfully] the trigger didn't get used...

 

[thecraw]

Probably the best post on the thread. I did find it interesting that people blamed the players when Olly had control of the pairings and credit the captain for performance in the singles. In the end I don't really care I'm just glad we won but I do think that Team Europe made it hard for themselves going into singles Sunday and irrespective of how the course was set up and how the US players putted there were some questionable pairings in Team Europe.

At the end of it all I'm still in shock that we won but personally think that Ian Poulter should take an enormous amount of credit for inspiring the fightback.

Right I'm going to crock off now

Whoop whoop.


Your the man. Don't forget to leave Chris an apple now!

 

[Largsgolf1974]

Haha classic thread, reading through it was like sitting at a football match......this ones rotten the next ones rotten, the manager hasn't a clue,

Then........🏆🇬🇧

Thanks for a good laugh guys. Well done olly and the boys, fantastic result in a very hostile environment

 

[Tiger]

Whoop whoop.


Your the man. Don't forget to leave Chris an apple now!

Baked him an Apple Pie. I think it shows I care just that little bit more.

 

[Bratty]

Tiger, in fairness, at least your points weren't as silly as this article! Hilarious, and read some of the comments, too!

I don't believe he was clueless; that's harsh. Would we have done any better? Of course we would! All armchair supporters in Britain like to pontificate and postulate!

Olly has been an interesting/confusing/maverick captain indeed. But not clueless.

Well done Olly and well done Europe.

 

[thecraw]

[h=2]Olly has been a clueless Captain. Discuss[/h]





What a total chump! Haha.

 

[Tiger]

I don't believe he was clueless; that's harsh...

Olly has been an interesting/confusing/maverick captain indeed. But not clueless.

Well done Olly and well done Europe.

Good post Bratty What is interesting about this thread is how the discussion ranged from the Captain doesn't make that much difference to the players under performed to the Americans played out of their skins to Davis Love's strategy to questioning some of his decisions: in essence the debate I was hoping to generate.

Then somehow the team turn it around and win, a truly incredible win. And in the end that's all that matters.

Yours sincerely

Mr T Chump

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Given the strength of suppor he ha had from the team in the media they certainly think he was the man for teh job and did a great job. Apparenly his speech on Saturday night had some of them in tears and they certainly played with a passion rarely seen. For my 2 bobs worth, I think the only difference on Saturday were the massive putts the US made from all over the place. We couldn't buy a putt until Poulter went ballistic at the end

 

[19thagain]

Given the strength of suppor he ha had from the team in the media they certainly think he was the man for teh job and did a great job. Apparenly his speech on Saturday night had some of them in tears and they certainly played with a passion rarely seen. For my 2 bobs worth, I think the only difference on Saturday were the massive putts the US made from all over the place. We couldn't buy a putt until Poulter went ballistic at the end

AND that dear friends is the facts .. nothing more or less .. luck or skill, good or bad, on the greens, created the difference between the teams on the respective days.

Olly would need a crystal ball to be able to know, in advance, who's putter was hot or cold - but... come on guys, you would have known so blame his pairings!!

As they say up here ...'Aye, right'!!