If you happened to watch Live From Ryder Cup on Golf Channel this evening, you saw quite the battle of egos.
Brandel Chamblee on one side, stating that the primary reason the Americans have lost 5 of the last 6 events is because the best ranked players on the team during those years haven't shown leadership. He singled out Woods and Mickelson exclusively, citing their poor performances and underwhelming Ryder Cup records.
David Duval on the other side, stating that he couldn't disagree more with that reasoning. Duval talked about how so much more has to be factored in to lay the blame on one or two players... how pairings often don't work out, how one player's struggles have every reason to affect his partner's performance, how easily momentum can change when an opponent makes an unlikely chip-in from off the green or a long putt to halve or win a hole, the fans in the gallery adding to the already-enormous pressure with a difficult shot they face. And Duval really shoved it in Brandel's face, saying "It's completely arrogant to single out one or two players for not winning, and in turn not give Europe their due credit for just ultimately playing a higher quality of golf."
The back-and-forth continued, with Brandel citing stats and saying that Woods' and Mickelson's overall indifferent attitude toward Ryder Cup in general has led to apathy within the rest of the teams they've been on, and how the overall team performance ultimately reflects leadership. Then Duval was rather direct in his response, saying something to the effect of, "How can you say that? Look - I've been on a few of these teams over the years and I know from personal experience just how important each individual's performance is in the overall scheme of things, and I can tell you that no one from those teams went into a single one of those matches with an indifferent attitude, despite how well or how poorly another player on the team happened to be playing."
Now Brandel is getting incredibly agitated, and he took Duval's remark as personal. "So you're saying that you had to have played on a Ryder Cup team to qualify an opinion?" Duval: "No, I'm not saying that whatsoever. I just think it is extremely arrogant to discount how well Europe has played in every one of these events, and lay the blame for losing on two players." Brandel denies that he implied that, and Duval then essentially tells him he can't have it both ways.
Anyway... quite an entertaining back-and-forth tussle... we can only pray that the event itself is half as competitive! LOL
I personally came away with the thought that Golf Channel should demote Chamblee to interview duties and completely take him off the front desk, and promote David Duval as the lead coanchor with Nobilo. Duval has the perspective of a successful playing career to lean on, has the ability to see and consider the entirety of certain issues, players and stories, and delivers his thoughts in a much more meaningful and pragmatic manner.
Chamblee has outlived his usefulness there for going on a long while now. It is painfully obvious that he has this enormous chip on his shoulder because of his not-overly-impressive career, and has gradually gotten away from offering constructive and interesting viewpoints - the things that enabled me to enjoy his contributions there many years ago - and replaced them with incendiary remarks and constant criticisms of those with playing careers that he's obviously jealous of.
I wish Duval had punched him in the mouth, or at the very least walked over and messed up his hair.