Azinger's Ryder Cup revelation hardly a surprise

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Paul Azinger wants to physcally hand the Ryder Cup to the incoming captain.

The PGA of America hands out few mulligans when it comes to naming Ryder Cup captains. It's one and your done.

Paul Azinger was the latest not to get an encore performance. Despite a wildly successful tenure as the U.S. captain, when 'Zinger led the Tiger Woods-less Americans to a 16 ½-11 ½ upset of Europe at Valhalla, Azinger told Associated Press golf writer Doug Ferguson on Monday that he won't return as captain.

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Azinger's replacement, most likely Corey Pavin, will be named later this week.

This news shouldn't come as a shock. The last player to serve back-to-back Ryder Cup captaincies for the U.S. was Ben Hogan, in 1947 and 1949 -- when the Ryder Cup was a slightly different animal than it is today.

If there's one major difference between the U.S. and Europe during the last 30 years of competition, it's the way the teams are constructed from the top: It's rare when an American captain is allowed a chance to repeat that role.

Since 1975, the U.S. has had just one Ryder Cup captain serve in that capacity twice -- Jack Nicklaus, in 1983 and 1987 -- and that didn't work out too well. Nicklaus' team needed a heroic wedge shot by Lanny Wadkins to eke out a win in '83 at PGA National, before Jack's second team became the first American squad to lose the Cup on home soil at his Muirfield Village Golf Club in '87.

The Europeans, on the other hand, have had four repeat captains since 1975: Bernard Hunt (1973, 1975), John Jacobs (1979, 1981), Tony Jacklin (1983, '85, '87, '89) and Bernard Gallacher (1991, '93 and '95). They likely would have had another two-timer, Bernhard Langer, but the German said he wasn't interested after leading Europe to a dominating win at Oakland Hills in 2004.

Azinger, who initially waved off the support from his 2008 team, eventually warmed to the idea, although he made it clear he wasn't campaigning for the job.

Azinger was a very popular captain who came up with a unique approach to molding his team, breaking them into three "pods" of four players who practiced and played together throughout the week. The strategy worked to a tee, enabling the U.S. to defeat a strong European team and bring home the Cup for the first time since 1999, despite missing the best player in the world.

But there were two factors working against Azinger's return:

• How could he possibly top this year's performance when Europe tries to regain the Cup at Wales in 2010? (Answer: He couldn't.)

• The PGA of America's tradition of moving the captaincy around.

"We don't have anything in our policies that doesn't allow a captain to return," PGA of America CEO Joe Steranka said by phone Monday before Azinger's comments to AP. "But we also point out there just aren't enough Ryder Cups for deserving players to share in that honor. If you "re-tee" a captain, that means another player will miss out on that opportunity."

There are some big-name Americans who never got a chance to serve as Ryder Cup captain -- Gene Sarazen, Hale Irwin, Larry Nelson and Mark O'Meara, to name a few. If the PGA had given Azinger another chance, that probably would have meant Pavin, nicknamed "The Bulldog" for his tenacious style, might miss out because likely candidates Davis Love III and Fred Couples also are nearing 50.

Pavin fits the PGA's mold of the Ryder Cup captain: He won a major (the 1995 U.S. Open), has plenty of Ryder Cup experience (he was 8-5 in three matches) and is still young enough (49) to relate to today's players.

Azinger sent a subtle sign he won't be back as captain when he recently told ESPN.com he suggested to the PGA that if he doesn't return, a ceremony should be held where he would hand the Cup to the next captain and wish him good luck.

"The longer they wait, the better it is," Azinger said. "That would be the best scenario and could bring a tremendous amount of hype."

Azinger always will have that magical week at Valhalla -- one he called the greatest of his life -- to look back on and savor. If the PGA wants, they can always bring 'Zinger back down the road, but it appears to be Pavin's turn to try to lead the Americans to their first Cup victory on European soil since 1993.

As the Americans proved last year by winning without Woods, the Ryder Cup is way bigger than one person. Even if that person is the captain.

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His opinion does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the PGA TOUR.