Can't overlook Kisner for Ryder Cup - or anything else - after WGC win
Jim Furyk doesn’t appear to be spending his post-Ryder Cup days revisiting the crushing U.S. defeat last fall in Paris. He’s content to leave that to others.
But if the 48-year-old captain, who has been busy the last few weeks contending on the PGA Tour, needed a chance to unpack the rare hits and frequent misses of the 2018 matches, his possible regrets couldn't have been more obvious than on championship Sunday.
Neither Kevin Kisner nor Matt Kuchar were ever really serious contenders to land one of Furyk’s four captain’s picks. Kuchar drove a golf cart as an American vice captain in Paris and Kisner watched the American rout from his home in Aiken, S.C.
Armchair captains will always enjoy the undefeated benefit of hindsight, but the facts, however anecdotal, from this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play are impossible to ignore.
On his march to the championship, Kisner defeated Tony Finau, Keith Mitchell and survived a playoff duel against the enigmatic Ian Poulter. He then beat Haotong Li, Louis Oosthuizen and Francesco Molinari, the European rock who had won 10 consecutive matches dating back to his perfect 5-0-0 week at the Ryder Cup, before facing Kuchar.
He cut a similar swath last year to advance to the championship match, rolling over Poulter (8 and 6, no less) and Alex Noren - both staples on Team Europe - as well as Kuchar, who he defeated, 3 and 2, in Sunday’s final at Austin Country Club.
“Kevin Kisner appears to be a very good match player. I’ll tell you a course that would really have suited him. Le Golf National,” Lee Westwood mused in a Tweet this weekend that Kisner called “cheeky.”
Kevin Kisner appears to be a very good match play player. I’ll tell you a course that would really have suited him. Le Golf National.
The Englishman would know. He was among Thomas Bjorn’s brain trust last fall and was well versed in the set up at Le Golf National, which was groomed to a shaggy perfection for a European team that specialized in hitting fairways and avoiding trouble.
Again, it’s easy to second-guess. Who should have been passed over for Kisner? Finau was ranked below Kisner in the final U.S. Ryder Cup points standings, but his 2-1-0 record in Paris was a rare highlight from an otherwise forgettable week for the U.S. team. For better or worse, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods were always going to get Furyk’s nod, and although Bryson DeChambeau struggled mightily, going 0-3-0, he won two of the last four events of the season.
Kisner’s performance this week isn’t so much a case of what Furyk did wrong as much as it is a manifesto of why he should never be overlooked by an American captain again.
Jim Furyk doesn’t appear to be spending his post-Ryder Cup days revisiting the crushing U.S. defeat last fall in Paris. He’s content to leave that to others.
But if the 48-year-old captain, who has been busy the last few weeks contending on the PGA Tour, needed a chance to unpack the rare hits and frequent misses of the 2018 matches, his possible regrets couldn't have been more obvious than on championship Sunday.
Neither Kevin Kisner nor Matt Kuchar were ever really serious contenders to land one of Furyk’s four captain’s picks. Kuchar drove a golf cart as an American vice captain in Paris and Kisner watched the American rout from his home in Aiken, S.C.
Armchair captains will always enjoy the undefeated benefit of hindsight, but the facts, however anecdotal, from this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play are impossible to ignore.
On his march to the championship, Kisner defeated Tony Finau, Keith Mitchell and survived a playoff duel against the enigmatic Ian Poulter. He then beat Haotong Li, Louis Oosthuizen and Francesco Molinari, the European rock who had won 10 consecutive matches dating back to his perfect 5-0-0 week at the Ryder Cup, before facing Kuchar.
He cut a similar swath last year to advance to the championship match, rolling over Poulter (8 and 6, no less) and Alex Noren - both staples on Team Europe - as well as Kuchar, who he defeated, 3 and 2, in Sunday’s final at Austin Country Club.
“Kevin Kisner appears to be a very good match player. I’ll tell you a course that would really have suited him. Le Golf National,” Lee Westwood mused in a Tweet this weekend that Kisner called “cheeky.”
Kevin Kisner appears to be a very good match play player. I’ll tell you a course that would really have suited him. Le Golf National.
The Englishman would know. He was among Thomas Bjorn’s brain trust last fall and was well versed in the set up at Le Golf National, which was groomed to a shaggy perfection for a European team that specialized in hitting fairways and avoiding trouble.
Again, it’s easy to second-guess. Who should have been passed over for Kisner? Finau was ranked below Kisner in the final U.S. Ryder Cup points standings, but his 2-1-0 record in Paris was a rare highlight from an otherwise forgettable week for the U.S. team. For better or worse, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods were always going to get Furyk’s nod, and although Bryson DeChambeau struggled mightily, going 0-3-0, he won two of the last four events of the season.
Kisner’s performance this week isn’t so much a case of what Furyk did wrong as much as it is a manifesto of why he should never be overlooked by an American captain again.
(NBC)
