Mickelson promises prepared U.S. team at golf’s Ryder Cup

CHASKA, Minn.—Two days before the Ryder Cup, Phil Mickelson went back 12 years to drive home a point that the Americans are prepared to play their best golf.

And along the way, he disparaged yet another former captain.

This time, his target was Hal Sutton. Mickelson was the catalyst for change at the last Ryder Cup when he publicly questioned Tom Watson's heavy-handed style— with Watson sitting at the same table—after another American loss at Gleneagles. That led to the PGA of America creating a task force allowing for player involvement.

"When you look back on what the difference is, when players are put in a position to succeed, more often than not they tend to succeed," Mickelson said. "And when they are put in positions to fail, most of the time they tend to fail."

In a conversation Wednesday on how much a captain matters in the Ryder Cup, Mickelson looked across the room and said,

"Let me give you an example, if

I may."

He went back to 2004 when the Americans suffered their worst loss ever in the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills. Nothing illustrated their failure more than when U.S. captain Hal Sutton put Mickelson and Tiger Woods together for the first time. They lost two matches in one day.

Mickelson was lampooned that week for practicing on an adjacent course as he tried to adjust to the golf ball used by Woods.

"We ended up not playing well. Was that the problem? I mean, maybe," Mickelson said. "But we were told two days before that we were playing together, and that gave us no time to work together and prepare."

Mickelson said having to learn how to hit a different golf ball forced him to abandon his own preparations to get sharp.