Put Ryder Cup on par with majors

THE INTERNATIONAL golf insanity begins Friday, known as the Ryder Cup, despite its lack of affiliation with any truck rental company.

Its namesake, who began as a discount seed distributor, would be delighted to see that the competition has outgrown its charter; that is, to promote golf intercontinentally.

He also likely would be alarmed to see how little the essence of the competition has changed since its charter was fulfilled.

Samuel Ryder got his name on the Cup because he was a major sponsor of the competitions, which, generally, were money-losers in the "BT" (Before Tiger) era. Then, Tiger Woods entered his prime.

As with everything else in golf "AT" (After Tiger), the Ryder Cup drastically changed. It began making millions. A mushrooming worldwide economy coincided with ever-increasing television coverage and, suddenly, the Ryder Cup, ugly shirts and all, mattered to some sports fans more than the Stanley Cup or the Winston Cup, which now is the Sprint Cup, but which retains the ugliest uniforms of all.

You see, Ryder was a businessman, a turn-of-a-century capitalist risen to wealth by hard work and excellent ideas, unlike the rags-to-riches capitalists at the turn of this century, who generally rose to wealth by shuffling money.

In Ryder's day, professional golfers were rare, not rich.

Professional golfers of this day are about as rare as baldness, and seldom more attractive. They have more tours than the AARP. They come in all colors, from all continents (well, six, anyway), and each of the elite golfers is a small company in obnoxiously logo-ed outerwear.

The stodgy dodgers who run the Ryder Cup and the top professional tours should recognize this. Rightly or not, the biennial Cup has become a sixth major; a showcase event for global golf stars.

It should be treated as such; by:

1. Paying the players.

2. Being held midseason.

3. Having all 12 picks made by the captain, not just the final three; and having those picks happen the week before the competition, not 3 weeks before.

Let's take No. 3 first, since we're discussing golf and, thereby, suspending logic.

First of all, in its infancy, Ryder Cup teams were selected entirely by committees. Only in the past 25 years or so has there been a strict, points-based system. So, there should be no argument to preserve tradition; in fact, they would be returning to tradition. Besides, the captains would pick mostly the same guys, anyway.

Second, the points system is flawed beyond redemption. The Players Championship might be the toughest tournament to win in the world, yet it carries half the Ryder Cup points of a major played in the Ryder Cup year. In fact, the Players carries the same weight as the majors from the previous year. A player can accumulate significant points in April and June of 2013 for an event nearly 18 months away.

This would be like starting 2012 Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey in the 2013 All-Star Game (he was 8-10 with a 4.69 ERA at the 2013 break).

Phil Mickelson is the R.A. Dickey of the 2014 Ryder Cup.

First, let's talk about Billy Horschel, the hottest golfer on the planet. He performed thus in the 2013 majors: did not play, tied for fourth, cut, cut.

Phil Mickelson, the arthritic 40-something with great hair, won the British, tied for second in the U.S. Open and made the other two major cuts in 2013, and finished fifth in U.S. Ryder Cup points. Mickelson also has one top-10 finish this season, a runner-up in last month's PGA Championship.

He withdrew three times, most recently at the BMW Championship 2 weeks ago, just after the Ryder Cup captain's picks were made.

Horschel won that tournament.

The next week Horschel won the Tour Championship, and, with it, the FedEx Cup, an artificial but lucrative title. However, Horschel got hot too late. Watson had to make his Captain's Picks by Sept. 2 . . . because, of course, pro golfers cannot adjust their schedules with 1 week's notice (That's sarcasm: They routinely adjust their schedules on less than a day's notice).

Not only is Horschel on a hot streak but he also is fine Ryder Cup material; high-strung, narcissistic and kind of a jerk - like most of the best Europeans in recent Ryder Cup history, and, really, like all of the Spaniards. Also, Horschel already wears ugly clothes, usually in a red-white-blue motif. He'd fit right in.

All that said, Watson indicated last week he did not regret not having Horschel on the team. Then again, Watson might just be defensive since his three picks - Keegan Bradley, Hunter Mahan and Webb Simpson - all played atrociously after being picked, while Horschel won twice.

What would trading Horschel for Mickelson mean? Well, it would mean playing without a losing Ryder Cup player. Mickelson is 14-18-6 in nine Ryder Cup appearances, with a losing record in every format.

Then again, someone has to wet-nurse Bradley, and someone has to coddle this year's Ryder Cup goat in the post-choke press conference.

No, Phil should be included . . . but only because no captain should be forced to have Jim Furyk on his team.

Furyk finished third in Ryder Cup points because he is a wonderful moneymaker, but he is not a winner. He has held at least a share of a 54-hole lead eight times since the start of 2012. He is 0-for-8. He closes worse than Jesse Orosco.

That is an unfair comparison. Orosco might have been a better Ryder Cup player than Furyk, who is 9-17-1 in eight Ryder Cups, 2-5-2 since 2008.

True, Furyk has singles wins over Sergio Garcia and Nick Faldo, but that was last century. You know, the century when Samuel Ryder was alive. And Samuel Gompers.

Can there be any doubt that Ryder, a shining example of self-reliance, would begrudge this generation of professionals some meaningful renumerance? After all, they are the show, and these days the show generates tens of millions in profits of the PGA of America and the European Tour.

Here's one formula: The top-ranked player on each team in World Golf Rankings points gets $600,000; the next-highest ranked player, $550,000, and so on down the 12-man line in $50,000 increments. The total would be just over $7.7 million: less than the total purse of a World Golf Championship event, a FedEx Cup playoff event, the majors and the Players Championship.

Which is only fitting, since, really, it doesn't matter nearly as much as any of those. In fact, the Ryder Cup provides more chance to tarnish a legacy than burnish one. Consider the recent, lasting memories: Mahan hitting a fat chip to cement a loss in 2010, vs. Martin Kaymer's easy putt to cement the win in 2012.

The pros now each receive $200,000 presented to charities in their names, but that is ridiculous. They risk injury. They spend their time. They have expenses not covered by Cup organizers.

And, of course, they play at the end of an exhausting season. Their season might not be as exhausting as, say, a week of Chip Kelly's practices, but most pro golfers think Sports Science is a kid's show on PBS.

Which is why, if the Ryder Cup is to be considered something real, the players should be in their finest form, not their worst.

The Ryder Cup should be held in the middle of the season.

It should split the U.S. Open and the British Open.

For that matter, whichever continent hosts the Ryder Cup should then play its Open. That's right; change the Opens' order to accommodate the Ryder Cup. It's that big a deal, right?

As it stands, the Ryder Cup, played at the end of the season, is nothing more than the Pro Bowl of golf.

With just a little more contact.