[Photo: Kate McShane]<\/p>\n
Defeat presents a lesson for future victory, provided the loser is humble enough to receive it. Unfortunately for American golf leadership, that gift keeps being refused, the opportunity instead spent explaining how the fault of what happened belongs to someone else.<\/p>\n
The Solheim Cup was the latest example, with the Europeans coming out on top, the fourth time they have won or retained the Cup in the past five matches. In the postmortem, where the only thing required is accountability, US captain Angela Stanford offered an excuse familiar to her American Ryder Cup counterparts. \u201cI think we just didn\u2019t make enough putts. And if you listen to everything I\u2019ve ever said, Europeans always putt better. I don\u2019t know why. I still don\u2019t know why. I mean, I have a good idea, but I\u2019m not going to say it right now. Apparently, I didn\u2019t get to know the superintendent as well as I should have. But I think they played really well, and you have to compliment them, and we gave it our best shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
RELATED: US captain Angela Stanford has no regrets despite another overseas loss<\/a><\/p>\n In her defence, Stanford acknowledged it was her responsibility to prepare the Americans, she repeatedly credited Europe, and her remarks were more frustration than accusatory. Still, the insinuation lingered that the Americans had been caught off-guard. Again. Because Stanford\u2019s comments echoed those of US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley last September at Bethpage Black, where, Bradley complained that the putting surfaces were softer and slower than his players anticipated on what was, allegedly, their course.<\/p>\n Stanford then noted her team lacked analytical support. \u201cLike in Spain, we had people giving us strokes gained in each match, even in practice,\u201d Stanford explained. \u201cAnd we didn\u2019t have that this year.\u201d Maybe not the strongest accusation against the stats team, although it was an admission that the management and administration was not where it needed to be. Sounds familiar, because it should. The American men had their own problems with stats at Bethpage, infamously sending out Harris English and Collin Morikawa twice despite Data Golf ranking them as the worst of 132 possible pairings. New Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk has since overhauled the analytics operation ahead of the 2027 matches, benching Scouts Consulting Group for new number crunches.<\/p>\n Two explanations, same message: The preparation had been compromised by incomplete reports, there were unexpected conditions and hey, the Euros just make more putts. In a related note, the Americans lost 15-13 in both matches.<\/p>\n RELATED: Europe saves its best for last, overwhelms US in singles to capture the Solheim Cup<\/a><\/p>\n Captains are entitled to defend their calls, and no honest accounting should excuse the players. However, there is an order to a postmortem, which is to credit the opponent and accept the result. The examination comes after disappointment has cooled, where analysis no longer sounds like an alibi. For whatever reason American captains keep reversing that order. Bradley criticised the Ryder Cup\u2019s envelope rule moments after it benefited Europe even though (as many European journalists pointed out) the provision had helped the Americans in the past. Bradley also defended a Bethpage crowd whose treatment of Rory McIlroy and others had crossed the boundary between provincial support and abuse. For posterity, Stanford was far more gracious towards Europe, but the superintendent sideswipe carries an insinuation whether it was meant to be loaded.<\/p>\n