Golf: Mickelson mutiny sad symptom of USA malaise

Phil Mickelson's public show of disloyalty stunned the US team's rookies and angered the veterans. Photo / AP

America's golfers may not "litigate" but they know how to agitate. Phil Mickelson's take-down of Tom Watson's leadership here was surely the most public denunciation of a captain by a player in Ryder Cup history. Should it be allowed to overshadow Europe's latest triumph? No, but it was part of the same win-lose drama.

Mickelson's disloyalty in comparing Watson's ineffective captaincy to Paul Azinger's stewardship in 2008 in a packed press conference chamber - rather than the team room, where the grudge might have been aired - was symbolic of the difference between the protagonists.

On the one side: Europe, committed, disciplined, impassioned, blood-brotherly. On the other: USA, fragile, ambivalent, unstructured and willing to knife the captain in front of a bank of cameras. As Mickelson argued for Azinger's "pod" system and constant dialogue with the players, the rookies on Watson's team looked stunned. Old Jim Furyk's face darkened into thunder. After another demoralising defeat, Mickelson had sent a damaging news story spinning round the world; one which every American player will have to deal with when they would rather be pulling the duvet over their head.

The miracle of Medinah might have been the end of something for Europe. It could have been the emotional pinnacle, from which the only way was down.

Instead the Europeans grip Sam Ryder's Cup ever more tightly. To follow Medinah with a 16-11 win is proof of a continent's addiction to the happiness it brings.

Across the water, American colleagues say, the Ryder Cup was already lagging behind the National Football League and college football on this week's must-watch list.

Watson's men did little to win Joe Sixpack back. "The Europeans kicked our butts," Watson said, before Mickelson effectively accused him of excluding players from strategic discussions, and Watson fired back that players could play all four Friday and Saturday matches only if they were in the "right shape" - a clear dig at Big Phil.

In truth America were under the gun from the moment Webb Simpson was miss-identified as "Bubba Watson" and then duffed the very first tee-shot.

With Europe, power passes from team to team without a tremor. The less wealthy tour has won eight of the past 10 Ryder Cups and each of the past three. Europe's players are full of zest and zeal and show no sign of ever allowing the Americans back in.

By the time this wonderful event touches down at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, in 2016, the PGA of America will be celebrating its centenary and golf will have invaded the Olympics in Rio.

History is moving fast but America is locked in a subservient role.

Watson could provide no answers.

"I know that this disappointment will last a long time for them, as it will for me. But we can learn from it," Watson said.

We have heard this before. But while they "learn", the memory swarms with images of what Europe's Ryder Cup team teaches us about sport in the age of multimillionaires. It remains possible for a generation of players to identify a cause and pursue it as one, spreading joy along the way. The contest is its own reward. America's golfers have lost sight of that. The Mickelson Mutiny was their sad footnote.