FanHouse Paul Azinger

Some people flip to the back of a book to see how it ends. For others, the first thing they do when they open the paper is read the obits. Me, I like to check out the leaderboard by seeing who's currently on top, and then scrolling down to see who's dead last in the field.

Given the state of my golf game it makes sense. Nothing like seeing a guy who hits golf balls for a living shooting on his worst day what I might shoot on my best. Anyway, this was the ritual last night, as I perused the Travelers Championship leaderboard.

Kenny Perry fired a 61 (although he could have broken 60 in his sleep if not for Bacon jinxing him), and there, at the bottom of the page, sat Paul Azinger, crafty 2008 Ryder Cup captain, golf analyst, and former major champion.

Listen, I love Jack Nicklaus. Love the guy. I think the 1986 Masters was as good as golf can get. A 30 on the back nine at Augusta on a Sunday? Goose flesh, meet chill bumps.

But, in the waning years, Nicklaus has had a tendency to say rather ridiculous comments. He complained about the use of a golf cart with Casey Martin even though Martin basically was walking with a 4-iron shaft as his leg. He thought the Americans would win the Ryder Cup "easily" this summer even though they were overmatched (which I still call crazy talk since the reason the US team won was because Paul Azinger might have been the best Ryder Cup captain ever and made every correct move possible). He also isn't sure that Sergio Garcia, who is currently the second best player in the world, could win a major.

So what now? Well, Nicklaus thinks Greg Norman, who is now 53, could contend at the Masters in 2009. No, seriously.

"[Norman's] talent is still there," Nicklaus said at the Merrill Lynch Shootout in Naples, Fla., Thursday. "He's always kept himself in great shape. I think he'll have a great time going back and have a lot of fun. He's always played well at Augusta, and there's no reason why at age 53 -- I mean, I almost won it on one leg at 58 (in 1998).

"So certainly a man who's in a lot better shape than I was and five years younger can certainly do pretty well," Nicklaus said.

Here is news that will make 5-foot-9 guys all around the world more excited than entry on a scary roller coaster -- Corey Pavin, picture above in what is being called the most awkward photo of 2008, is the new United States Ryder Cup captain.

Some probably thought Paul Azinger, Captain Zero to Hero at this years matches, would be back to captain the United States in 2010. He did a fantastic job not only captaining during the week but nearly a year before, changing some of the out of date rules. Azinger did not get a second chance, even after saying he'd be interested in staying around.

Others thought Fred Couples, American golf hero and stand up guy would take the reins for the coming years. Couples had success at the Ryder Cup and has always been a helpful addition to any coaches slew of assistants. Freddy did not.

In 2010, you will get your Pavin fill.

He isn't a bad pick by any means, just surprising. Pavin won the 1995 U.S. Open, along with 14 other PGA Tour tournaments, and had an 8-5-0 record as a Ryder Cup player.

As much as a captain can't go out and hit the shots, a good one does a lot for a team and a bad one (see Faldo, Nick) can kill your chances and ruin team morale. I'm not saying Pavin won't be good or great, but I think Azinger deserved another shot at captaining this team.

That or just have John Daly do it. I promise he won't allow a lot of cameras during team meetings.

Nick Faldo is obviously insane. There are any number of reasons to think so, the latest being his admission that he'd happily reprise his role of European Ryder Cup captain following what happened at Valhalla a few months back.

After leading the Euros to defeat (and handily, I might add), Faldo is eager for more. Hmm, sounds like a horrible idea, particularly since he was roundly criticized for his efforts.

I suspect others' opinions don't phase Faldo -- he was never Britain's most popular player (or close to it, really), despite winning six majors. So this probably won't change his opinion either: Ian Poulter, the same guy Faldo named to the '08 Ryder Cup squad amid some controversy, feigns indifference about the prospects of Faldo returning in '10:

It's the tradition that will not die. You win a major sporting event, any sporting event, and you either get a call from the President or a visit to the White House.

On Monday, the United States Ryder Cup team, months off fresh off their win over those pesky Europeans, took a trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to visit our good pal George W. Bush as what could be the last sports team to make an appearance with His Stumbleness.

Only seven of the 12 members of the team showed, with no real report on why the others didn't make. Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Kenny Perry, Steve Stricker, and fellow Texan Justin Leonard decided not to show their face around Bush, which always makes you wonder what the motives behind the shunning were.

Bush did say that he watched "every minute" of the Ryder Cup, which bodes well for the leader of a country that is in such stable condition right now. I hope he was at the ranch when he watched the golf. That is really the only way to enjoy a nice game of white ball on the tele.

Team captain Paul Azinger said afterwards that meeting with Bush was the "icing on the cake," which means Azinger was about 4,000 times more happy to have Bush around than anyone at the Republican National Convention would have been.

Hey, don't get mad at me, blame McCain. Or the economy. Yeah, blame the economy for my Bush jokes.

To be completely honest, I didn't even know Justin Timberlake played golf until late last year when a buddy called to tell me he was the group behind him on a Las Vegas golf course. After that, the flood gates opened when Timberlake appeared with Matt Lauer and Tony Romo at the U.S. Open contest earlier this year and is now set to host a PGA Tour event starting tomorrow in, you guessed it, Las Vegas.

The proclaimed six-handicapping is the host of the, deep breath, Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open which starts tomorrow at TPC Summerlin with such notables as Woody Austin, Paul Azinger, Davis Love III and John Daly. Surprised by the last one? Well, it turns out Daly and Timberlake are good buddies, even playing in the pro-am on Monday together.

Both hail from Tennessee and became friends about 10 years ago, when Timberlake first picked up the sport. Even when he was still a high handicapper, Timberlake told Daly he was going to become a good golfer.

"And he has. Now his handicap is around a six, I think, and he knows the rules, he knows the game," Daly added. "He's a great guy. We like to hang out, and it's just great to have his name on this tournament."

Golf is resting from a long, grueling season and rest it shall; it was a doozie of a 2008. We had some of the same old names winning consistently, some of the same old names losing consistently and a list of new golfers sure to find their way in golf conversation for years to come. Without further ado, here are your winners and losers of the 2008 PGA Tour Season.

Winners

Padraig Harrington -- With all respect to Tiger Woods and what he accomplished early this season, Harrington is our player of the year and for good reason. Padraig won two major championship in a row, making it three of the last six, and trying his best to accomplish what Sergio Garcia once said his goal was, to top both the PGA Tour money list and the Order of Merit in Europe. Harrington's second shot on the 17th hole at Royal Birkdale was one of the better executed shots of the year considering the pressure, setting up a Claret clinching eagle and repeating at the Open.

In the wake of the European Ryder Cup loss, a lot has been said about Nick Faldo's approach to the captaincy. That is, he sucked at it.

Now four days removed from the Cup, Ryder Cup snub Colin Montgomerie is calling for a change in the European system, most notably adding four captain's picks instead of two.

"I think Paul Azinger was very strong to go to the U.S. PGA and demand a change," Montgomerie said. "Having lost five of the past six Ryder Cups, a change had to be made for their setup and I'm sure that change will remain for the next captain. I think that for the future, eight and four is the way to go."

The "change" Monty talks about is what allowed Azinger to pick four guys for the team instead of two, most notably J.B. Holmes and Hunter Mahan, who combined for a 4-0-4 record. The point of the change was to allow the American team to pick from a larger pool, not subjecting the captain to a handful of players on the top of their game come Ryder Cup time and only two to choose from.

There are plenty of people who think that the Ryder Cup captaincy is nothing more than a glorified cheerleader with a nifty earpiece and a golf cart. In general, I don't disagree with this point of view.

Paul Azinger, the U.S. captain, feels differently, I'd think. He was instrumental in last weekend's outcome and spent almost two years laying the groundwork for one of the best American performances in well over a decade. (Yeah, I know, '99 was AWESOME, but, if we're being honest, the U.S. really had no business winning at Brookline.)

[The U.S.] celebrated as a team of 12 following a week in which they were three teams of four.

It was an intriguing concept that Azinger spent nearly two years cooking up. He built his team by doing personality profiles of three dozen potential players and grouping them accordingly.

The aggressive personalities were Kim, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan. The "Kentucky" group featured Kenny Perry, J.B. Holmes and Weekley (a Southerner) along with Jim Furyk, the misfit of the group who provided leadership. The emotionally quiet featured Steve Stricker, Ben Curtis, Stewart Cink and Chad Campbell.

It took nine years, but the Americans have finally won back the Ryder Cup, a feat that, frankly, not many people were expecting a week ago. But Paul Azinger, the U.S. captain, is a wily sort, or, at the very least, had the great fortune of going up against one of the worst captains in recent Cup history.

Nick Faldo, a six-time major winner quite possibly known more for really loving himself, made several curious decisions during the three-day event (and several prior -- like leaving Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie at home), and that had a lot to do with the outcome.

But Azinger, and perhaps, more importantly, the fans who flocked to Valhalla to support the American side, also played a huge role.

The "home-field advantage" played a giant role this weekend...

On the eve of the event, Azinger told a rally crowd in Louisville not to be afraid to cheer if the Europeans missed a putt, as long as the missed putt secured an American victory at that particular hole. Garcia was witness to the obedient response. After Garcia rinsed a pair of shots into the water and conceded the seventh hole, he walked 200 yards to the green listening to bedlam with Kim pleading for the crowds to cheer louder.

"We created the 13th man, and I'm real proud of these people," Azinger said. "They made a big difference and kept our guys energized."