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AZINGER NAMED RYDER CUP SKIPPER


Paul Azinger has been named as the United States' Ryder Cup captain for Valhalla in 2008.
The former major winner takes over from Tom Lehman and faces a tricky task in trying to regain the trophy following crushing 18½-9½ defeats for the US in the last two matches.

He comes up against European skipper and fellow television analyst Nick Faldo, who pipped him by a shot at the 1987 Open Championship at Muirfield, and will be hoping to avoid a fourth straight defeat in the competition - Curtis Strange, Hal Sutton and Lehman were the previous three losing captains.

And Azinger will have the benefit of four wildcards - his predecessors only had two - as the hosts look to field their strongest side.

Next year the only counting events towards qualification will be the four majors, with one point for every $1,000 earned by those who make the cut.

In 2008 there will be the same method for calcualting points at all regular events and double points at each of the majors - the Americans have also done away with the old system of points only being awarded for top-10 finishes.

"I had a very active role in creating this. I said when they first asked me a few weeks ago if I would do this, if they would consider allowing me to have four picks," he explained.

"I feel like there are two things that really motivate the players out here and two things that the players really feel the pressure to attain. That is trying to win tournaments that are the most prestigious, and the only other thing that makes me nervous is cash.

Azinger said he worked out the details in a meeting with a number of PGA officials.

He added: "There were seven of us, and we came to a consensus that this was the way to go. I would say all of our fingerprints are on it.

"But I'll get the blame if this doesn't work, so I would like some of the credit if it does."

As a player Azinger played in four Ryder Cups, in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 2002, winning five and halving three of his 15 matches. The last shot he played in a Ryder Cup at The Belfry was a holed bunker shot at the 18th to grab a half against Niclas Fasth.

His finest moment came at the US PGA Championship in 1993, where he saw off Greg Norman at the second hole of a play-off at Inverness but, just four months later, he was diagnosed with lymphoma in his right shoulder blade.

After undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments, he battled back to playing a full season on the PGA Tour in 1995 and won again at the Sony Open in Hawaii four years ago.

This season the 46-year-old played 30 tournaments, missing the cut 12 times before finishing the year 121st on the money list.