Easy Ryder if you happen to be captain

THE post-match Ryder Cup press conference is one like no other.

All 12 players PLUS the captain of the losing/winning team assemble on stage to talk us through their defeat/ victory.

So there was Padraig Harrington, laughing and joking with his players (above) after the slaughter by the water in Wisconsin.

Nothing wrong with that, obviously. After the pressure, it was a release.

But it was an insight into the unusual role of the Ryder Cup captain. The captain does not play. He selects the pairings and gives out tactics, as much as you can in golf.

He is, therefore, essentially the equivalent of a football manager.

Can you imagine a football manager joshing with the lads while dissecting a record-breaking thumping?

Harrington is their mate. That is what often happens with Ryder Cup captains.

And, in truth, for all its prestige and honour, how much does a Ryder Cup captain influence the result?

He does not even pick his team. Nine were presented to Harrington through the qualifying system.

And this stuff about getting the pairings right? When it comes down to it, every shot is just one man and his ball.

For the singles, Harrington merely wrote down the names of his 12 players... and they lost by almost exactly the same percentage margin as they lost the first two days.

Which tells you all you need to know.

Perhaps he can make a bit of a difference, but what events on the shores of Lake Michigan showed was that the Ryder Cup captaincy is one of the most overblown and overhyped jobs in sport.