The post ‘Just a bunch of wusses’: Former Ryder Cup star jabs European team appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Just a bunch of wusses’: Former Ryder Cup star jabs European team appeared first on Golf.

Lanny Wadkins remembers being booed. And non-cheered. 

Both moments came at away Ryder Cups. At the 1985 event, played at the Belfry in England, he’d been introduced on the first tee — and the American said he was jeered by the European faithful perched around him. Then, four years later, again at the Belfry, Wadkins chipped in on the 18th hole — and there was only silence. 

“There must be five, six people deep behind the green,” he said. “Everybody’s got their arms folded, nobody applauding my eagle chip going in.

“They wanted it to miss.”

The memories came to mind for the major winner and seven-time Ryder Cupper when he was asked, on Golf Channel’s “Golf Today” show, about whether this year’s Ryder Cup crowd could cross a line. The thought has been raised previously ahead of the event at Bethpage Black on Long Island, N.Y., and last week, at the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy said European captain Luke Donald had been prepping his team by giving them virtual reality headsets in an attempt to mimic the noise.  

“It is just to simulate the sights and sounds and noise,” McIlroy said in a story written by the Associated Press. “That’s the stuff that we are going to have to deal with. So it’s better to try to desensitize yourself as much as possible before you get in there. You can get them to say whatever you want them to say.

“So you can go as close to the bone as you like.”

As for Wadkins’ thoughts? On “Golf Today,” Wadkins said he hopes the Bethpage crowd will be under control — and he said he thought the American supporters have been “rowdy” in the past, but haven’t gotten out of hand.  

The 1995 Ryder Cup captain also said this: “I always find it very interesting that we never say a word about what happens to us when we’re playing in Europe.” A short while later, he added with a grin:

“I mean, we got the same treatment over there. We just never complained about it.

“Sometimes I think the Europeans are just a bunch of wusses and can’t handle the heat.” 

This year’s Ryder Cup starts next Friday morning at Bethpage Black. 

Editor’s note: To watch the complete “Golf Today” interview with Wadkins, please click here. 

The post ‘Just a bunch of wusses’: Former Ryder Cup star jabs European team appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘He’d be gambling in a ditch’: Major champ rips Phil Mickelson over LIV appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘He’d be gambling in a ditch’: Major champ rips Phil Mickelson over LIV appeared first on Golf.

With the rise of LIV Golf and his central role in its creation, Phil Mickelson has taken a lot of heat over the past two years. Now even with an armistice and potential agreement in place between the PGA Tour and the PIF, Mickelson is still taking shots from all over the place.

The latest takedown — and one of the most severe we’ve heard yet — comes from major champion and Ryder Cup veteran Lanny Wadkins in an interview with Golfweek.

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“The truth is Phil’s disappointing,” Wadkins told Golfweek. “I mean we all love Phil and watched him play… but to do the stuff he’s done and, you know, cause the problems he’s caused and the friction he’s caused, and the divisiveness in golf he’s caused.”

Then Wadkins ratcheted up the heat, referencing Mickelson’s struggles with gambling, which were revealed to the world in Billy Walters’ book Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk.

“If it wasn’t for golf, where would Phil Mickelson be?” Wadkins continued. “You know, he’d be gambling in a ditch somewhere. So, you know, It’s not good. I think he owes more to the game than what he’s done.”

This isn’t the first time that Wadkins, who won the 1977 PGA Championship in a sudden-death playoff at Pebble Beach, has denounced Mickelson publicly over his involvement with LIV Golf.

On a Golf Channel appearance in August with host Eamon Lynch, Wadkins similarly took Mickelson to task.

“I don’t know if there has ever been a more disappointing figure in golf than Phil Mickelson, seeing what’s transpired with him over the last 10-plus years,” Wadkins said on Golf Channel. “He was the beloved figure for a long time. We all marveled at the way he could play. But nothing looks kosher about what he’s doing these days.”

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In addition to his PGA heroics at Pebble, Wadkins played on eight U.S. Ryder Cup teams in his career from 1977-1993, five of which ended in victories for the Americans.

Wadkins then captained the U.S. team at the 1995 Ryder Cup to a narrow defeat at the hands of the Europeans. That happened to be Mickelson’s first Ryder Cup as a player.

That Ryder Cup was played at Oak Hill in upstate New York. In 2025, the Ryder Cup heads back to the Empire State for what is sure to be a boisterous crowd at Bethpage Black.

For a long time it had been speculated that Mickelson, who is beloved by New York golf fans, would earn the captain honors at Bethpage. But in his Golfweek interview, Wadkins said Phil’s decisions over the past two years have likely ended that possibility.

“No question he would have been a captain, probably a two-time captain. He probably would have been the captain next time at Bethpage Black when it comes over here,” Wadkins said. “Instead, it’ll probably be Tiger.”

You can read Wadkins full interview with Golfweek here.

The post ‘He’d be gambling in a ditch’: Major champ rips Phil Mickelson over LIV appeared first on Golf.