ONE of America's most insightful professionals, John Cook, has blamed his country's poor showing in the Ryder Cup on a crop of one-dimensional players who need to take a leaf out of Tiger Woods' book and win more often by learning to play the right shot at the right time.
A contender at Royal Troon for the Senior Open, where he carded an impressive 69 in blustery conditions yesterday, Cook spoke of his desire to give something back to the game as a coach and help the next generation expand their repertoire beyond shee
r power.
"They are very, very good, so why don't they win more than they do?" Cook said of the new breed of young American players. "I don't think they understand a lot of the (nuances] of the game and how to hit different shots.
"Now it's all strength and power and they don't play the little shots any more that can help them win championships. Why they don't, I have no idea. Just look at the world's No1 (Tiger Woods]; that's as far as you need to look."
While Woods is a player of imagination, Cook, who played on a winning side at the Belfry in 1993, was asked if the US had struggled since then in the Ryder Cup because too many US golfers are one-dimensional. He replied: "Absolutely, no question about it. I totally agree.
"You look at the guys who are successful on our Ryder Cup team, and those guys, they are not so much the big power guys, but the guys who have learned a little bit; the Jim Furyks.
"I think that you're right. There's a lot of young talent on the US Tour, but they need to start winning something in my eyes."
The full article contains 304 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
