Following the tragic loss on home soil, speculation about improving performance has already begun. Tiger Woods was one of the top names rooted for leading the American side in the past, but now his fellow and on-course rival, Phil Mickelson, has shared why having Woods on the job would not be useful.

Starting the speculation spree, Kyle Porter posted on X, writing about how Europeans have established an exceptional relationship and communication, which has led to victory. Interestingly, for him, that is missing, and Tiger Woods won’t be the ideal choice to build that. With the post garnering 45K views, it has also invited a LIV golfer to share his thoughts.

Writing for which, Mickelson added, “Here is why looking outside of golf to a Coach K or Lou Holtz is worth exploring. Golf is an individual sport that doesn’t have teamwork, a support system, a partnership, team analytics, personality traits, and more. The Europeans have a template that teaches and prepares their captains for these skills. The U.S. has a new template every 2 years with little continuity. If a coach K or Lou Holtz or someone similar took over, would it be built upon or would it be scrapped and start over again afterwards? If that’s the case, it would be a waste of time and effort and not worth doing to begin with.”

According to Phil Mickelson, the team structure for winning the Ryder Cup is missing. He cited the example of Lou Holtz, the famous college football coach, who helped the team win the National Championship in 1988. Additionally, the other name mentioned was Coach K, who coached the Duke University basketball team and helped lead them to 5 NCAA Championships, along with other notable performances. The coaches have helped in building a pipeline structure, which is missing on the USA Team.

On the one hand, where the American captain is changed with every edition, the European team has followed a pattern in which experienced players are promoted to vice-captaincy roles and then to captaincy. With that analysis, he thinks even Woods won’t be a great help for the team with the broken pipeline and structure. Interestingly, Mickelson, who could have been the captain in the coming edition, according to the rumors, has stepped away from it.

Mickelson has shared an update about his involvement in the Ryder Cup. When Lee Westwood asked for his opinion on leading the side, he replied, “No rumors. My Ryder Cup involvement is over. I’m happy being a spectator and rooting for Team USA 👍.” But despite that, he has remained active in showcasing his support for the team, demonstrating his patriotism. However, according to his analysis, the team leader structure needs to be changed.

Every edition, the new captain route needs updating with a more experienced name taking charge for a long time. In fact, this year Keegan Bradley took a step towards it by appointing a veteran as the ambassador.

Bradley took a step closer with Mickelson’s ideology for Team USA

Larry Nelson, who had an exceptional Ryder Cup record of 9-3-1, was among the top names to lead the team. But unfortunately, he wasn’t given that opportunity. However, for the 2025 edition, the veteran at 77 age was offered a great position to be part of the leadership team. Bradley asked Nelson to be ambassador of the team. The news came out with a post from Dave Stockton Jr.

The post wrote, “My dad told me last night that @Keegan_Bradley has asked Larry Nelson to be at The Ryder Cup as Ambassador to Team USA. What a class move by Captain Keegan! Larry Nelson was 9-3-1 in 3 Ryder Cups and should’ve been a Captain years ago. 3-time Major Champion too! 😎”

The efforts of Nelson as overshadowed as his fellow was named as the captain, but he never got the chance. Now that the opportunity knocked at his doorstep, he agreed to the role and shared gratitude towards it. Nelson said, “It really meant a lot that Keegan made an effort to include me.” 

With the changes in structure, is it going towards what Phil Mickelson has pointed for the Ryder Cup? Or does the team require more significant changes to win? What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments below.