Weirfan
the captain does have some influence. mostly with his picks. Furyk picked Tiger and Phil because he basically didn't want to be "that guy" who snubbed two of the greatest players in the modern era, despite their woeful RC history. But someone has to be "that guy" who says sorry, you aren't good enough to represent this team in this event any longer. Stricker, I'm afraid will be much of the same. He'll pick Tiger and Phil if they're physically capable of swinging a club.
Just seems like we've put ourselves in a box and are bound to "veteran" leadership, despite the playing records of those "veterans" that have sorely underperformed.
What's the old saying about doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different result?
Finau played great. Bryson was never given a chance really, given the disastrous pairings the first two days. We knew Woods and Mickelson would be picked, and we knew Mickelson wasn't playing well. And we knew Tiger's record in this event.
And we knew they needed to step up, and they did not, yet again. Surprise, surprise....
But!!!!!
Tiger and Phil are on PPV over Thanksgiving! So they have that going for them.