Our own Joe Molloy was there as the drama played out and his tweets from the USA's post-Ryder Cup press conference perfectly illustrate the way in which Phil Mickelson laid into the captaincy of Tom Watson
Phil is going for Watson here. This is terrible
— Joe Molloy (@MolloyJoe) September 28, 2014
Talking about how great Azinger was.. "Weve strayed from a winning formula... It didn't happen this week..." This is brutal
— Joe Molloy (@MolloyJoe) September 28, 2014
Watson is just staring straight ahead with a slight grin
— Joe Molloy (@MolloyJoe) September 28, 2014
Phil: "No player was involved in any decision this week."
— Joe Molloy (@MolloyJoe) September 28, 2014
But did Watson know Mickelson was about to dissect his captaincy so publicly and with that much immediacy?
Golf writer Lawrence Donegan suspects he did as he joined us to talk about the fallout in the USA camp after a poor showing at Gleneagles over the weekend.
"I suspect that there is no way that he did that without telling Watson beforehand," said Donegan, who described Mickelson's comments as "a kicking" of Watson.
"If you look at footage of the press conference for the time that Mickelson was speaking, Watson is completely impassive, his face doesn't move a muscle. So I suspect that he knew that it was coming."
Donegan suggested that about two-thirds of the US audience backed Mickelson, with one-third highly critical of the five-time Major champion's conduct.
He believes that Mickelson was "miffed" that he was dropped for Saturday's Ryder Cup action, but also explained why he thinks the way USA prepare for the tournament is "inherently" wrong in comparison to the way that Europe pick their captains.
Donegan also revealed why Watson is disliked by both himself and other journalists.
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