Vincent Publishing - Index

Vincent Publishing - 2008 Travelers Championship Magazine - Index

54 This is the new era.
“I just called (the PGA of America) and said, ‘Do me
a favor. What year were the best balls in the morning?
I think Seve (Ballesteros) did it in the morning (1997)
and we got smacked.’ I felt like if we changed it, it
can’t hurt. There’s no reason other than that.”
Ballesteros’ action in 1997 pushed the European team
to a 5-2-1 start in Spain, a deficit the Americans
weren’t able to overcome.
As far as additional captain’s picks go, Azinger thinks
that too will help – or haunt.
“If the captain’s picks don’t play great, then more
blame can be put on me,” he said. “Once you
submit the final list, you’re stuck with it. How many
times will I change my mind over those picks in the
final days? You’ve known me for a long time and
know me too well. I may change my mind 10 times
before the matches start.”
What won’t change is Azinger’s legacy as a player.
He missed making the 1987 Ryder Cup team
because he hadn’t fulfilled the required PGA of
America courses for membership, a rule that was later
reviewed and revised.
Between the time of his first Ryder Cup in 1989 and
his next-to-last in 1993, Azinger won eight times on
the PGA TOUR.
Along with his good friend and spirited Ryder Cup
competitor, Payne Stewart, Azinger became the face
of the U.S. team, largely because of his patriotic spirit
and will to win. Stewart died in a tragic airplane
crash in 1999, months after winning his second U.S.
Open in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
In that four-year period, Azinger won the 1993 PGA
Championship in a playoff with Greg Norman and then
beat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer.
His Ryder Cup record in those 1989 and ’91
appearances was 6-3-3. Along with partners like
Beck and O’Meara, Azinger beat world notables such
as Faldo, Woosnam, Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal
and Sam Torrance.
By 2002 and in the midst of back and hip problems,
Azinger was a captain’s pick by Curtis Strange and
was 0-1-1 in limited action.
When he assembles his team for the Sept. 19-21
matches, the 14-time PGA TOUR winner will have a
plethora of memories to call upon.
Those great U.S. teams he played on will provide a
wealth of experience for the 2008 edition, he said.
“My first Ryder Cup team gave me a tremendous
amount of confidence,” said the U.S. Captain.
“It was the most pressure I’d ever felt, but it gave me
the confidence to deal with a lot of pressure on a
major stage. I felt better about myself as a player on
that kind of stage. It was never overwhelming, just
really exciting. It elevated a player’s self-belief in
representing your country.”
Azinger said he hopes to bring those experiences
across to his team and maybe, just maybe, give them
a history lesson of how underdogs such as the 1989,
’91 and ’93 teams could become giant killers.
“On paper,” he said of those three European teams
with future World Golf Hall of Fame players covering
the roster, “they were the better team than us.”
“They had Faldo, Woosnam, Montgomerie, (Sandy)
Lyle, (Bernhard) Langer, Olazabal and Seve. They had
won in 1985 and ’87, the last one for the first time on
American soil. In 1989, ’91 and ’93, we rolled along.
We were underdogs and that inspired us.”
Azinger hopes to provide that same kind of
inspiration this time around.
“I hope we win and then my legacy can be whatever
you want it to be,” he said.
And won’t Payne Stewart be proud of his old buddy
either way?
Official Championship Magazine