• Ryder Cup

Mickelson told to show some respect

Phil Mickelson was not impressed with Tom Watson's captaincy © Getty Images

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Colin Montgomerie and Nick Faldo have told Phil Mickelson that he should have showed more respect to USA Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson and kept his misgivings private.

And the former PGA Tour player Brandel Chamblee, who works as a golf analyst for Golf Channel, went even further, describing Mickelson as a golfer who had "corrupted the experience of the Ryder Cup".

Mickelson gave a of Watson's performance as the team's leader after they were 16 1/2 - 11 1/2 by Europe.

It was elementary, Watson

Phil Mickelson spoke during an awkward press conference © Getty Images

• While the champagne flowed for Team Europe, American veteran Phil Mickelson refused to mince his words on captain Tom Watson's performance.
  
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In his press conference following the defeat, Mickelson claimed Watson had not engaged with the players and should have stuck with the system that worked so successfully in 2008.

Montgomerie, Europe's winning Ryder Cup captain at Celtic Manor in 2010, told the Golf Channel: "Should we go into this one hour after we've been defeated? The answer is a flat no. You support your captain under all circumstances. In public, you respect and honour your captain.

"The PGA of America selected Watson as the best choice to try to win the Ryder Cup back. Unfortunately, the team didn't perform for Tom."

Faldo, a losing Ryder Cup captain at Valhalla in 2008 when his American counterpart, Paul Azinger, achieved success with a pod system using four groups of three players who practised and played together, agreed.

"That should have been a private conversation," Faldo said. "Phil certainly doesn't respect Watson. He threw his captain right under the bus."

Montgomerie suggested the players rather than Watson were to blame. "The Europeans happened to play better [at Gleneagles], it's as simple as that. Watson did the best with [what] he had. It doesn't matter who captains a team really. It's up to the players to bring back those points."

Chamblee added on Mickelson's comments: "That was as close to a one-man mutiny as I have ever seen. I think that's a moment that Phil would like to have back.

"If you are looking for a reason why the United States continues to lose, you just saw it, you saw it in one man - Mickelson.

"Mickelson, along with the best players of that era, have so corrupted the experience of the Ryder Cup for their fellow competitors by not having records anywhere near what they should, given their rank in the game and what they've achieved."

Mickelson, a five-times major champion, has a win-loss-half record of 16-19-6 from his 10 Ryder Cups.

"Players of an era who are the best go to the Ryder Cup and show off, not goof off," Chamblee said. "Phil Mickelson in 2004 changed clubs at the Ryder Cup and the day before he went to practise at another golf course. This is yet another example of [Americans] not coming together as team."

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