03 October 2023 , 22:19
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Zach Johnson has defended the preparation of his United States Ryder Cup team, after nine American players opted to take five weeks off in the lead up to the event.
It was a week to forget in Rome for Team USA, as they lost to their European rivals 16.5-11.5 on Sunday. Johnson's team had their slow start to blame, after the away team were whitewashed in the opening session on Friday morning, before adding just one-and-a-half points in the afternoon fourballs.
After being slow out the traps fingers were pointed at the preparation of the U.S. players, as nine members of the squad had played no competitive golf since the Tour Championship at the end of August.
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The European players meanwhile headed into the event much fresher, as all 12 of their roster opted to compete at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth two weeks earlier. Captain Johnson however admitted he had no problem with how his players prepared.
Asked whether he felt the break from the course played a part in his team's poor start, he responded: "No. I mean, my first reaction would be no. I mean, there's also something to be said about rest and recovering and getting your game in a position where you can go compete.
"I mean, these guys have won a lot of golf tournaments with weeks off. I have. So I don't think so. We had prep time here. Again, two and a half weeks ago. Reps are reps. The schedule is the schedule. You can't control that." One man who led the criticism of the Americans was former European player Andrew Coltart, who labelled their time off 'disgraceful' earlier in the week.
Zach Johnson's players were criticised (PA)"I have a massive question, and Zach Johnson is going to get hit with this," Coltart said on Sky Sports. "Who on earth in their right mind thinks the best way to prepare for a Ryder Cup is to take five weeks off?... Nine of the 12 American players took five weeks off. That's disgraceful."
A similar point was also raised by 2014 Team Europe captain Paul McGinley, who also highlighted the decision of three U.S. players in Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth deciding not to come on the team's scouting trip to Marco Simone two weeks earlier.
"They had four or five weeks off. Some even longer," McGinley said. "Only three of the 12 players have played an event in the last four weeks. They’d never go into a major doing that. That’s not proper cutting edge competitive preparation. Only nine of the 12 players came over on that recce trip a few weeks ago. How committed, how invested do you want to be?"