Ten Things We Learned after the Ryder Cup 1) Never again in Wales: It is bordered by England, the North Atlantic Sea, and the Irish Sea so it can't be a surprise when rain interferes with an October weekend. Wales has the two wettest cities in the United Kingdom which is like being the craziest girl in the history of the "Bad Girls Club". Not only did the weather affect the format of the event, but it also affected the quality of play and though a Monday finish is a great reason to take a sick day from work, the weather hurt the fans at the event and watching on TV. With all due respect to Ian Woosnam this has to be the one and only Ryder Cup held in his home country. Woosnam now resides in New Jersey and has to be one of the few people in the world that can claim a move to Jersey was a climate improvement. 2) When did our country's colors change? It seems that Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin and his wife have forgotten that our colors are red, white, and blue. Our Ryder Cup team should be wearing some combination of these colors every day and not the ridiculous lavender and black that they were wearing the first couple days of play. This is a no-brainer along with staying away from 5 button V-neck lavender sweaters that made our team look like a golf league from a retirement home. These guys look fine every other weekend of the year when they dress themselves and then the Pavin's make them like clowns and embarrass them like Ralphie from the "Christmas Story" with his bunny outfit. 3) Pavin joins the list: Thanks to Kite, Sutton, and Strange, Pavin will not be on the top of the list of worst captains, but some of his decisions made you scratch your head and needed an explanation that he wouldn't give. Like previously stated this competition was played in Wales so you need rain gear that actually keeps you dry and doesn't make your team look like a 30 handicapper who forgot his windbreaker. Corey you are not leading an invasion of Europe, you are just trying to beat them in a golf competition so smile once in a while and this might even rub off on your team. Session 3 was comprised of 2 alternate shot matches and 4 best ball matches and Pavin selected the Stricker/ Woods team to be one of the teams to play alternate shot. The alternate shot format is designed for players who hit fairways and greens and even when Woods was winning majors and in his best form this format does not suite his game. Fowler/Furyk were the ideal team to join Z. Johnson/Mahan as the two alternate shot teams and this mistake came in what turned out to be the session that lost the cup for the US, as Europe won 5.5 of the possible 6 points. A captain's job is to put the players in the best possible position to succeed and Pavin didn't do that with that decision. The Sunday singles lineup also was puzzling with Pavin loading up the beginning matches with Stricker, Furyk, Cink, and DJ, but not having the same depth at the end of the lineup. Woods and Mickelson have always played well in the singles session and they needed to be more involved and play more dangerous Euros than Peter Hanson and Frankie Molinari. Pavin, just like anyone who has ever watched a Ryder Cup knew that Europe would have their weakest players in the middle and that is not where Mickelson and Woods should have been slotted. 4) Why does the US struggle in best ball and alternate shot? It is well documented that the US struggles in the early sessions and then plays their best golf in the singles and this year was no different. The best teams for the US were the teams that paired veterans with veterans (Stricker/Woods) and young guys with young guys (Overton/Watson). The problem is that when veterans and young guys are paired together there is a tendency for too much discussion over putts and the young guys especially get thrown off rhythm. This strategy might work for the Euros, but it doesn't for our team so when the DJ/Mickelson team needed to be broken up DJ/Fowler and Furyk/Mickelson seemed like the better chance to take as I can assure that would have led to less discussion on 3 footers. Future captains can't forget these lessons especially when they are happening during the competition and changes can be made. 5) The Euros have a home course advantage and we need one in 2012: The Europeans should get full credit for tailoring the course to their players. Making the Par 5's all but unreachable for everyone but a select few of long hitters and growing the rough so that accuracy of the tee became paramount. The Euros also had a huge advantage on the greens that were as slow as a "Biggest Loser" relay race. The US needs to make distinct changes to Medinah for the 12' cup like making the rough more playable and putting a premium on distance. The most important change will be to make the greens as fast as possible since that is where these competition are won and lost and confidence on the greens makes all the difference. I am not advocating putting up the host scores faster than the visitors, which is only a move that Euros would be proud of, but course changes and more energized fan base would definitely be worth a point or two in a competition that has become so close. 6) Speaking of the 12' cup the US future is bright: Jeff Overton was the breakout star of the US team and Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan and DJ will all be future fixtures on this team. These group of players along with Anthony Kim should form a core of players for the next 5 cups. This is a discernible difference from past teams and young guys like Chris Riley, Charles Howell , and Brett Wetterich. The experience of playing on foreign soil under intense pressure will make them better players in this competition. Overton was the best of the bunch due to his ability to adapt to the slow greens and Fowler showed nerves of steel in his singles match. DJ finally showed the player he has been all year with the biggest margin of win in the singles session, but it can't take the Euro crowd firing him up with a "he has your major" chant for him to get his only point. This core group of players would benefit the most from the veteran/veteran young guy/young guy pairing strategy. 7) Steve Stricker becomes a standout: There was no better American player in this competition than Stricker. He was steady and spectacular and if you had to put your bankroll on an American in match play he became the easy choice. His play allowed Tiger to find his game early and his ability to roll in putts on top of the Euros was remarkable. In the most impressive win of the competition he beat Westwood in the opening match of singles that started an almost historic US comeback. The match was played at a high level in a crucial spot and beating one of the best Euro Ryder cuppers ever on the road after being down early is as impressive as it sounds. 8) Tiger/Phil: Tiger was part of the best US team of the competition and though it helped he was teamed with Stricker he played well to bury Frankie Molinari in singles. He seemed to be finding his game as he went along and though he was inconsistent he had to be encouraged with his swing changes. An off-season of work could make him a contender to win next year and by all accounts he was a better teammate than past team events. Mickelson's Ryder Cup struggles continued and his overall poor play since winning the Masters has to be concerning. His year has to be considered a disappointment which would have been improbable in April. Mickelson had his best moments in the post competition press conference when like a leader he took the blame for the team's loss and deflected questions from the young guys and Mahan in particular. 9) Are Ross Fisher and Ian Poulter golfers or wrestlers? The crazy eyes staring after making a putt to win a hole is something that I thought I would only see on Monday Night Raw. This becomes especially irritating when the crowd is singing Ole and the Euros are wining holes with pars. I admit I am still bitter and wish more people on our team were quoted as saying the Ryder Cup is their favorite event like these two. 10) Monty, Westwood, and Donald: They might not have a major between them but their Ryder Cup records secure their place in Europe. Monty looked as comfortable as a captain as he did as a player in this event and as uncomfortable as he did as a player in a US major. While Westwood and Donald seem to always be one putt away during individual tournaments they never miss that putt in the Ryder Cup and there 6&5 win over Stricker/Woods set the tone for the 5.5 session that secured the cup for the Euros. Only 727 days until the 2012 cup.