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 Bishop, who expressed "absolutely no regrets" over the
appointment of the much maligned Tom Watson for last week's Cup
showdown with Europe at Gleneagles in Scotland, is also in favor of
a much later selection of the 2016 U.S. team.
Those were the key changes highlighted by Bishop in a wide-ranging
interview with Reuters on Tuesday in which he was asked about the
lessons learned by the Americans after they had suffered their
eighth Ryder Cup loss to Europe in a decade.
He also spoke about the perceived division within the U.S. team, a
topic which became a hot-button issue after Cup veteran Phil
Mickelson launched a thinly-veiled attack on Watson's strategy as a
captain shortly after the cup was won by Europe.
"There's been a lot made of what Phil Mickelson said on Sunday night
at the press conference," said Bishop, who was already back at work
at his Legends Golf Club in Indiana on Tuesday.
"You know what, that was no surprise to me because I had a very
similar conversation with Phil when we played together in the pro-am
at the Scottish Open back in July at Royal Aberdeen.
"I had asked Phil a question about his perception of the Ryder Cup
and he gave me the same answer that he gave on Sunday night, so it's
clear to me that he feels very strongly about that."
Bishop, whose PGA of America organization represents more than
27,000 golf professionals, felt Mickelson's biggest mistake was not
to speak out earlier, and in private with Watson.
"It would have been nice if he had maybe conveyed those feelings to
Tom before the Ryder Cup rather than after the Ryder Cup," said
Bishop. "And I wish he wouldn't have done it in that venue on Sunday
night, but it is what it is.
"There probably weren't two guys that were part of that team that
wanted to win any more than Tom Watson and Phil Mickelson. I think
they're very similar in that regard."
JUBILANT MOOD
With Europe in jubilant mood after crushing the U.S. by 16-1/2
points to 11-1/2, Mickelson said Watson had not engaged with his
players during the week and should have used the "pod" system that
worked so well for their last Cup victory in 2008.
"He (Watson) probably implemented the 'pod' system that everybody
has made such a big deal about more so than Davis Love (III) or
Corey Pavin," said Bishop, referring to Watson's two predecessors as
U.S. captain.
"I think a lot of that was because of the influence that Steve
Stricker had as assistant captain with Tom. Steve of course was part
of that Ryder Cup team at Valhalla that did win (in 2008).
Paul Azinger was the successful U.S. captain at Valhalla where he
implemented a four-man 'pod' system, an idea he got from the Navy
SEALS.
"Tom had the same four guys practicing together on Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday at Gleneagles and they were playing their own
games within their foursomes," said Bishop.
"He made them switch up the partners on Thursday because he wanted
everybody in the group to have a chance to play with each other so
he had the flexibility to switch the pairings throughout the week as
he needed to.
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"He had the same assistant captain basically assigned to each of
those groups, so there was a lot of continuity in that regard."
Bishop believes the U.S. can learn a great deal from Paul McGinley's
meticulous and sensitive captaincy of Europe last week and from the
settled structure that paved the way for the Irishman to take charge
of the team.
"There really is some merit in having a structure in place where you
are bringing guys in as vice-captains who are going to be potential
Ryder Cup captains," said Bishop.
"And just like Europe has done, we need to break the mould on saying
that a U.S. Ryder Cup captain has to be a former major champion.
"I'd use a guy like Steve Stricker as a potential Ryder Cup captain.
Why not? He has already served one tenure as a vice-captain and he
is very well respected by the players."
NO REGRETS
Bishop said he had no regrets over the bold gamble to appoint
Watson, 65, as the oldest ever Ryder Cup captain but he envisaged a
more structured strategy in the search by the PGA of America for the
2016 skipper at Hazeltine National.
"I think you're going to see us having a little bit more of a
systematic approach where we probably don't do anything different
from the past where we have solicited opinions of others (on a
captain) but you'll see more structure to it," he said.
Bishop also suggested that the automatic qualifiers for the 2016
Ryder Cup should be identified later than usual, perhaps after the
Deutsche Bank Championship, with the captain's picks being announced
at the season-ending Tour Championship.
"We have to try to make sure that we field the strongest team
possible and with the PGA Championship moving to late July (from
August) in 2016 because of the Olympics, there is no way you can
announce the automatic qualifiers two months before the Ryder Cup,"
he said.
"I don't see why it would be impossible to allow the captain to make
his captain's picks after the Tour Championship. That would give the
captain the option to pick a couple of hot players, like Chris Kirk
and Billy Horschel were this year."
Kirk won the second of the four FedExCup events to make a late bid
for a captain's pick this year while Horschel triumphed in the last
two to clinch overall playoff honors. Neither player made the U.S.
Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles.
(Editing by Frank Pingue)
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