Jim McCabe

Measured against so many numbers, the recent Ryder Cup history has resembled one of those Harlem Globetrotters games from your childhood — with the United States playing the role of the Washington Generals and Sergio Garcia as the inimitable Curly Neal.

Consider:

• 95-73 represents the point differential in Europe’s favor since 1995.
• 37-19 is the combined margin of victory for the Euros the last two years.
• 23½-12½ reflects the domination over the last three sessions of singles, for so many years a U.S. staple.
• And, of course, there’s the staggering 1-5, which is the Americans’ record in this biennial exercise since 1995.

Dominating numbers, to be sure, but before the analysis begins as to why in the last 13 years or so American golfers have been able to shine at the most demanding of times — the major championships — yet flounder within the confines of international team competition, there is another number to digest: Six, as in the number of consecutive losses the U.S. would be riding if not for the efforts of one Mark James.

That’s right, the blunders of the affable Englishman in 1999 were parlayed into the only bright note the Americans have enjoyed since the days of Tiger Woods as a high-school phenom. Had James employed a dose of character and a dash of common sense, the Americans never would have been afforded the chance to make that unforgettable singles rally and thus we would be headed into Louisville talking about a six-match losing streak and we would probably already have added Fiji, South Africa, and Australia as our 51st, 52nd, and 53rd states.

But James did err, big time it says here, and while it was nine Septembers ago, the Ryder Cup lesson still resonates: A captain is overrated in that he can’t win it for you; but he’s underrated in that he can certainly help you lose it.

That brings us to the 2008 competition at Valhalla and the gut feeling that while the Europeans have the better team and are in position to win for a fourth straight time, what the Americans have going for them this time around is ... well, European captain Nick Faldo.

Unlike his most recent predecessors, Sam Torrance (2002), Bernhard Langer (2004), and Ian Woosnam (2006), each of whom was brilliant in his own way, Faldo is under the misconception that this Ryder Cup business is about him. It’s not. It’s about players, the shots they hit, the pressure they do or do not handle. Faldo was a player once. Strike that. He was a great, great player once, a six-time major winner and his 23 wins still rank as the most in Ryder Cup competition, and always Faldo succeeded thanks to a single-mindedness that could block out everything around him.

Sadly, he still is that way, a cold and unapproachable sort who is quite brilliant one minute, extremely charming and witty the next, but forever devoid of the genuine personality that can galvanize a group of millionaires. Faldo wants to convince 12 players that he can lead them to victory the way he tracked down Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters, but the 12 players know better. They know that all Faldo has to do is write down the lineup, give them a pat on the back and they’ll be off.

That’s an approach used by Torrance, Langer and Woosnam, when each time they made popular moves with the players, from captain’s picks to pairings, and a funny thing happened: The players responded in style.

2008 Ryder Cup At Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. Final leaderboard  |    Slide show Final day: U.S. takes back the Ryder Cup Opinion: No substitute for inexperience   Video: Americans' winning moment Opinion: Azinger gave heart, soul  |    Video New breed carries Americans  |    Video: Boo! Kim concedes nothing to Garcia  |    Video Notebook: Perry finds his defining moment Video: Highlights and memorable moments VOTE: Who played biggest role in win?

Consider the captain's picks by these men — Sergio Garcia and Jesper Parnevik (’02); Luke Donald and Colin Montgomerie (’04); Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood (’06). In each case, the roomful of automatic picks rose and cheered unanimously, for those were the names they wanted to fill out the roster. Why? Because Garcia, Montgomerie, Clarke and Westwood can walk into a locker room and bring all 12 team members together, and that sort of power makes them in some ways bigger than the captain.

Torrance could have cared less. Langer yawned. Woosnam was too busy watching the competition.

But Faldo? His ego demands more. That is why he turned down the chance to pick Clarke to his team, even though the gregarious man from Northern Ireland has won twice this year and is 7-3-3 in his last three Ryder Cups.

Instead, Faldo selected his fellow Englishmen who will be a bit more beholden to him and less likely to question his authority — Paul Casey and Ian Poulter. Nice players, the both of them, and certainly they’ve had a level of yearlong consistency that justifies their inclusion, but only one of them should have been given a ticket Louisville, not both.

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