When I opened up my mailbox the other day I found my copy of PGA Magazine inside. On the front cover of the September issue is a picture of the Ryder Cup and inside are numerous articles about the upcoming matches. My jaw about hit the ground when I read a question and answer article between PGA Magazine and current Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger. One of the questions in the article was, "Are you doing anything special to promote team unity, such as barbecues or team activities?"

Here is Captain Paul Azinger's response, " I don't think that's that important, personally. I don't feel like it needs to be a love fest." I personally have never heard a statement more out of touch with the concept of a team activity in my life. Team unity is of prime importance to the success of any team, ask any CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Azinger has certainly stuck his foot in his mouth with this comment. At the same time though, his opinion is understandable. He has been playing a game that has very few team events throughout the year. When he was playing golf most of the tournaments were individual events and it was every man for himself.

In my mind Azinger has spent a lot of time whining on TV about how the system need to be changed in order to give the Americans a better chance at winning the cup. I would agree that player performance in the year of the event should be more highly valued and that Ryder Cup points should be awarded to the top-10 American finishers in a tournament, but the rest of his complaints are just excuses.

The fact of the matter is, the Europeans are better at building team relations and spend more time together, and thus have a stronger bond. I wonder if coaches like Joe Gibbs, Lou Holtz or the Gipper would share Azinger's sentiments about team unity. I should think not. Many winning teams over the years have had less talent but more heart. I think that if the American team wins this year it will not be because of Captain Azinger's choices but in spite of them. Over the past years the Europeans have dominated the Ryder Cup perhaps because they are just better players. Instead of saying the Europeans only looked happy because they were winning is a simplistic logic, perhaps he should have studied what their team was doing and implemented some of those things with his team.

I think that putting two more captains choices into the hands of a man who believes that "Team unity is not that important" is a dangerous move. The PGA of America needs to be more picky in the types of Captains it selects to head this team. Losing is one of those events that shows how much character a person has. Changes are needed in the Ryder Cup selection process but they are only minor when compared to the mindset of the players and the Captain.

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