Apr 24

Ryder Cup travesty: Larry Nelson will never be U.S. captain

Thank God that Larry Nelson has finally been elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame. Although he would never come right out and say it, he must feel like the PGA of America has slapped him in the face every two years by never naming him captain of a U.S. Ryder Cup team. Given the popular players who will be coming up for nomination during the next few contests such as Paul Azinger and Fred Couples, it is a virtual certainty that Nelson will be left out.

It is hard to imagine what the PGA has been looking for when they by-passed Nelson so many times. We are talking about a 3-time major winner, including the 1983 US Open and two PGA Championships in ‘81 and ‘87. On top of that, Nelson has one of the best Ryder Cup records in U.S. history. In three separate contests he won 9 matches, tied one and lost only 3 out of 13. It would be fair to say that this man is one tough competitor.

And bear in mind that his major victories were achieved during the golden age of European golf when Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle and Bernhard Langer were leading the Euro charge to the top of golf world over the likes of Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Ray Floyd, Ben Crenshaw, Lanny Wadkins and Curtis Strange.

Nelson’s problem in this ridiculous situation is that he is a very spiritual and humble man. His intense will to win was forged during 2 tours of duty in Vietnam. The man was a late starter in golf, never touching a club until he turned 21. Once acquiring the bug, he learned how to play by reading Ben Hogan’s great instructional book and within a years time was breaking par. You think he doesn’t know a thing or two about motivation?

The PGA of America should take a good, hard look at its captain selection process when Tom Lehman is selected as captain ahead of so qualified a man as Larry Nelson. It’s an absolute travesty.

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9 comments

Comment from: David [Visitor]

Nelson won majors so you know he can play. He was in the Army and fought wars, so you know there is a hard-working leadership quality within him.

He just never gets the credit he deserves, as he is as modest as the day is long. It seems that he doesn't mind being largely unrecognised as being one of golf's greatest ever (top 100 best ever), as he is, as stated, very spiritual and has already received his rewards for hard work and determination. He doesn't seem interested in mass fame and media attention.

It's the big-headed, loud a**holes that tend to be remembered as being better players than they actually were.

04/24/06 @ 13:02

Comment from: Ann [Visitor]

David, you are correct, the gentle people never get a look in, I love Larry Nelson, always have done, actually please forgive me, this is not meant to be offensive, I always called him Larry the Lamb, a more pleasant golfer you could never come across, and he is never mentioned anywhere.
Sandy Lyle is exactly the same, and it pains me over and over again, there is talk of Montgomerie being the next Ryder Cup captain after Faldo, ahead of Sandy, but why should that be, Sandy has won 2 Majors, 6 times in America, countless Tournaments around the world, as Shanks pointed out, at the time they were all playing together, it was not just one Superstar, there were many, not just the handful you have now, but every Tournament was filled with these stars all competing against each other, they call Monty a star, but how can you be a star when you have never won a Major, nor won in America, and yes he did win the European order of merit 7 years in a row, but I ask you who did he play against, the golden boys of Lyle, Watson, Nicklaus, Crenshaw, Faldo, Seve, et al had all but gone.
For Larry, I am so happy he has been accepted into the Golf Hall of Fame, perhaps people will now realise what a TERRIFIC person and golfer he was, Shanks I don't understand why he was never picked as a Ryder Captain, I would bet he was never even thought about, I would rather have decent upstanding gentlemen like these, than the loud mouthed, egotistical golfers that now inhabit our TV screens.

04/24/06 @ 15:34

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

The PGA of America runs 2 major events: the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup. You would think that as a 2-time winner of the PGA championship and as one of the best US Ryder Cup players ever, the PGA would be begging him to captain the side. (And he has twice the playing resume of Tom Lehman.) Who knows, maybe he just refused to kiss somebody's ring.

04/25/06 @ 11:08

Comment from: David [Visitor]

Woosnam deserves the European captaincy, just as Faldo deserves to be his immediate successor. No qualms there.

But what has Lehman ever done as a player. Granted, he won the 1996 Open, the Open probably being the most prestigious golf tournament in the world. But what else?

05/02/06 @ 16:37

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

Lehman won a total of 5 tournaments and they were all on premier courses. He was actually number one in the world - for one week. Although he was a very consistent challenger, he seldom got in the winners circle. (This is a flaw of the world ranking system.) Like I said, Nelson has twice the resume.

05/03/06 @ 07:41

Comment from: Simon [Visitor]

It does seem that Nelson would have been a good candidate for US Ryder cup captain. To be honest anyone would have been a better captain for your country that Hal Sutton, he was just an embarrassment. My mother has not interest in golf and even she would not pair Tiger and Phil. I think the problem with Hal was he let his ego get in the way, this is certainly something that Nelson, like Crenshaw, would not do. I hope there is a better performance from the USA this year just because otherwise the US public may become disinterested and follow the Presidents cup more - something that already appears to be happening

05/04/06 @ 20:06

Comment from: Ann [Visitor]

I am a Scot/Brit as you all know, and I must tell you Hal Sutton was an embarrassment to us all, we all want competition, you are correct Simon, the ego got in the way of any logic.
We have all met people that will never admit fault, nor listen to any advice, and it was such a shame to see this happen, please no repeat, the Ryder Cup is a wonderful spectacle, and I hope it never becomes blasè.
Commiserations to Tiger on the loss of his Dad

05/05/06 @ 08:57

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

I would have to believe that Tiger would have responded most favorably to Larry Nelson as captain. He probably would have been reminded in many ways of his Dad.

Sutton was a disaster. Lehman will be much better.

05/08/06 @ 13:39

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

like this?

06/13/06 @ 12:16

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