No lack of US guts

The US Ryder Cup team has been derided and whatever the pro-game hype, it certainly was not the strongest side America has ever fielded. Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods were terrible captain’s picks and a system which leaves no option to including Bubba Watson in the team needs to be sorted.

The problem is the Ryder Cup is sport but its also showbiz.ifwinningwaseverything I would have included reliable vets like Zach Johnson and Brandt Snedeker or younger match-players like Brian Harman and Cameron Smith. But win or lose, the public wanted to see Woods and Mickelson.

However the idea that American golfers lack the “character” of their European counter-parts is ludicrous. I won a sports scholarship to California in the early 1960s and can vouch that anyone who thinks US sportsmen lack guts hasn’t competed against them at international or professional level.

(REV DR) JOHN CAMERON

Howard Place, St Andrews