Damon Hack - August 29, 2012

• By Morning Drive Team
• Aug 29, 2012 7:51 AM ET

Next week, Davis Love III will make his four Captain’s Picks and based on his personality, Love III seems like a guy who has always tended to do things the right way. He is not a fiery person but he will take the Captaincy seriously and it will be interesting to learn about his managerial style during the Ryder Cup at Medinah. Some Captains have been very intense and while he does not see Love III as having that style, Hack wonders what his style will actually be.

If he could pick one player that the U.S. team will rally behind this year, he would pick Zach Johnson. Not only is he highly respected as a player and as a person, he is a very competitive person and he will bring an intensity and enthusiasm to the U.S. team room that will motivate his teammates and rally them around winning the Ryder Cup.

When it comes to who he would select as the 4 Captain’s Picks, Hack said that he would select Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk as no-brainer picks. The other two picks are a bit more difficult and while he would pick Rickie Fowler, he would bump Hunter Mahan off the team in favor of Brandt Snedeker not only because of Snedeker’s recent performance but also because of the way he has played recently.

If Bo Van Pelt had been able to defeat Tiger in the AT&T National, Van Pelt would be receiving much more consideration than he is receiving. Van Pelt is one of the most solid players not only in the U.S. but also around the world but unfortunately he has not won. As a result, Van Pelt is overshadowed by players like Mahan, D. Johnson, Snedeker, Watney, and others who have won recently on the PGA TOUR.

When it comes to European team weaknesses, Hack said that there are not many of them but if he had to choose a couple of them he would say Westwood’s short game, Donald’s summer performance, and Kaymer’s entire 2012 season. However, the European team is incredibly strong and it is really difficult to find true weaknesses.

Sergio Garcia is the second notable player in two weeks to skip a FedExCup Playoff event. It is not a good thing for players to just skip a Playoff event and if he could make a rules change, Hack said that he would penalize players who miss events because they do not want to play by reducing their points position 5-10 places. Dufner and Garcia’s decisions to skip Playoff events make the FedExCup Playoffs seem less significant.

Hack said that he would also like the PGA TOUR to try to make the math behind the FedExCup a bit easier to understand. Last year, Bill Haas did not know that he won the FedExCup until he received the trophy on the 18th green following his playoff win over Hunter Mahan. If players do not understand the FedExCup system, it is highly unlikely that a lot of fans will understand it.

Jason Day, who is 88th on the FedExCup Points List, is someone that Hack will be paying attention to during the Deutsche Bank Championship. It has been a bit of a quiet year for Day as he became a father for the first time in 2012 but he has been showing signs of improvement in his game recently.