The five-time major victor, when asked about the importance of captains, used the example of Sutton's decision to pair him with Tigers Woods on the opening day at Oakland Hills when they lost both matches and never played together again.

Mickelson used Hal Sutton and his captaincy in 2004 as an example of players being set up for failure. It's a 12-year-old corpse.

Mickelson was the catalyst for change in 2014 when he publicly questioned Tom Watson's heavy-handed role as captain in Gleneagles in another American loss.

So maybe bringing in Michael Phelps for an inspirational speech wasn't too far of a stretch.

So, rather than a Captain's Pick, Watson became the fifth assistant captain for the Americans.

Mickelson said he wasn't trying to knock Sutton. Phil knows how to throw a captain under the bus.

"The American team is also shaping up very, very strongly".

Even Rickie Fowler is already gearing up for a third Ryder Cup, and Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed learned so much from their successful ventures together at Gleneagles. That led to the PGA of America creating a task force allowing for player involvement.

The announcement came at the end of an opening ceremony that began with the introduction of Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin, whose deciding match in the 1969 Ryder Cup was ended by Nicklaus conceding the Englishman's two-foot putt to halve not just their contest but the overall match.

"The way his mind works on the golf course, it's impressive and it definitely shows why he has won so much and where he is". Matches do not go extra holes in a Ryder Cup.

Phil Mickelson is apologizing for using Hal Sutton as an example of how a Ryder Cup captain can put players in a position to fail. Time to tee it up men and get the job done.

European captain Darren Clarke mixed up his foursomes for the second full day of practice.

Mickelson backed off a bit Thursday, saying he didn't mean to disparage Sutton like he did. Lefty said he was given only two days' notice that he'd play with Woods in the alternate shot, which left him very little time to learn how Woods' golf ball would react with his swing.

The U.S. team does have U.S. Open champ Dustin Johnson, Mickelson and Jordan Spieth, who in response to a question about why the Americans are in a losing streak said, "We're exhausted of being told we haven't won in a while. He's played on two President's Cups, and it's time for him to take over the leadership role because he's going to be the lead guy for the USA team for many years to come", Mickelson said.

US captain Davis Love III said Mickelson was only trying to set the record straight because “some analysts just keep bringing it up over and over and over again, ” though Mickelson mentioned Oakland Hills unprompted in his news conference. Love indicated Mickelson is in some ways playing defense.

"We didn't win the Ryder Cup". It's just that in defending the American overhaul he can come off as if he's making the captains scapegoats for the American mess.

United States captain Davis Love III said Mickelson was only trying to set the record straight because "some analysts just keep bringing it up over and over and over again, " though Mickelson mentioned Oakland Hills unprompted in his news conference. Both very strong players.

"The U.S. team, we haven't really been talking about it", said Dustin Johnson. "It puts added pressure on them".

If the US team really wants to honor Arnold Palmer this week, then they should do so by playing like him. Lee Westwood tweeted when the task force was formed.