21 Sept 2026
Does Team USA Have the Ryder Cup Disease?
Kent and Scottie — Scottie from a car on the way through Arkansas — bring in Golf Digest's Shane Ryan, author of The Cup They Couldn't Lose, for what may be the only public post-mortem of Team USA's Solheim Cup. Shane wrote the book on why the American men spent decades losing Ryder Cups, and he sees the same symptoms: a captain who sent Angel Yin and Megan Khang out first and third at 8–8, a program that treats loading the boat as optional, and a management structure that picks captains without ever asking for a plan. From there: how front-loading became gospel from Brookline '99 to Medinah, Davis Love's "biggest mistake of my career," Stacy Lewis and Justin Ray, the CEO test for choosing a captain, and whether Paula Creamer is next. After the break: the beer-bus video and the sports karma gods, Bernhard Langer's "I want the record," what's fair to criticize before the matches and what's just hindsight, the Angel Yin decision and the alternate that wasn't, why the qualifying system tied the captain's hands, the Rolex rankings that say this was the worst US team on paper, Tony Jacklin's 1983 blueprint for beating a better team, and Luke Donald's mattresses. Plus Shane's case against a mixed Presidents Cup, Kent's Queen's Cup, and Korea as the Soviet Union of women's golf.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Cold open — "the sports karma gods"
0:27 Welcome: Scottie from a car, and the only public Solheim Cup post-mortem
0:57 Enter Shane Ryan — Golf Digest, The Cup They Couldn't Lose, Commissioner of Rigamarole
1:48 Does Team USA have the Ryder Cup disease? (Stacy Lewis read the book — twice)
2:59 Loading the boat: the simplest strategy in team golf, and Team USA skipped it
3:26 Angel Yin and Megan Khang out first and third at 8–8 — "unforgivable"
5:02 "It's insane": Jason Aquino's rule on captaincy malpractice
5:41 The lineup graphic — where was Yealimi Noh?
6:24 Brookline '99 and 2002: how front-loading became gospel
8:47 Medinah 2012: Davis Love, Darren Clarke and "I didn't know"
10:10 "A referendum on who you are as a captain" — and where Yin and Khang should have gone
11:58 Stacy Lewis, Justin Ray, and "hire somebody smarter"
13:22 Why an American captain is always under pressure — Europe's motivation edge
14:10 Should the USA change how it picks captains? The CEO test
16:21 Paula Creamer next — and a captain who has never played alongside her team
18:17 The swearing policy opens the floodgates — then advice for the committee
19:08 "Lifetime achievement award" captaincies
21:09 Captain or management structure — which matters more? Water trickles downhill
22:07 The beer-bus video: "why would you ever post that?"
22:57 Sports 101 — the Si Woo Kim nighty-night and the karma gods
23:56 Bernhard Langer, 2004: "I want the record"
25:38 "You needed a miracle to get to 8–8" — and Europe's competitive juice
26:29 What you could criticize before the matches, and what's hindsight
28:30 Angela Stanford's last Instagram post — "Saturday night was the end"
29:02 Couples counseling: should Angel Yin have stepped aside?
30:28 Boston, Canada and Lilia Vu — the choices that were actually on the table
31:53 Qualifying: the US just changed its system — one bad decision after another
33:58 The Viktor Hovland option — take the free half point
34:54 Lexi 2023, and a better system: recency and six picks
37:24 The Rolex rankings graphic — the worst US team on paper
38:07 Tony Jacklin 1983: when you're outgunned, look at everything
39:48 "Nothing more satisfying" — beating a better team by being smarter
40:29 Luke Donald's mattresses — an investment problem or a captain problem?
42:24 The twelve tropes: should Yealimi Noh have played foursomes?
45:16 Scottie drops out, and one last question: a mixed Presidents Cup? Count Shane out
47:21 Welcome back, Scotty — the Queen's Cup, and Korea as the Soviet Union of women's golf
49:10 Sign-off — "Paula needs to call you"
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