Zach Johnson singles out biggest regret from US Ryder Cup failure

The dust has long since settled on an emotionally-charged Ryder Cup in Rome, but for some, scars will remain. 

Zach Johnson, the beleaguered captain who presided over a seventh straight defeat in Europe for the United States, has now had plenty of time to think about his failure at Marco Simone.

“I’ve got a lot of 20/20-hindsight things that I certainly think about. Arguably, some regrets,” Johnson admitted at the RSM Classic in his first media appearance since the crushing 16.5-11.5 defeat six weeks ago.

“But I think again something of that magnitude, win or lose, you’re going to have that, that’s sports. And I think that’s when you care, you’re passionate about something, you’re going to have those natural feelings.”

For Johnson, who was derided for his leadership in the US inquest, it was all about the appreciation of time.

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“The common denominator that I go back to that I wish I could have changed, or not changed, I wish it would have dawned on me earlier is just the pure commodity of time and understanding that it’s precious,” he explained.

“You know, we had the practice round trip. No regrets. Amazing. I don’t think the guys would say they had any regrets in that, at least I hope they wouldn’t. It was spectacular.

“If I could have put more value into time management, I could have put my guys in a better position to play golf at a better rate early on.”

The US had six of the top ten players in the world in their ranks and more than half of the team were major winners.

But Johnson’s men were outplayed and the skipper has been blamed for setting the tone for the damaging defeat with his team selection, pairing choices and preparation coming under fire.

Nine of his team hadn’t played in five weeks leading up to the Ryder Cup, while Luke Donald’s united European side had all played the BMW Championship at Wentworth in the build-up.

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It was widely noted even before the contest that his players were coming into a heated battle undercooked, and Johnson has taken responsibility for his own mismanagement regarding the lack of preparation.

“Ideally you want to have some fresh guys. I don’t know if it’s the captain’s role to say, hey, you guys got to go play,” he added.

“I don’t know if that’s the proper way to approach it. Bottom line is the FedEx Cup takes a lot of time, energy and they need to rest, too. Some guys played Napa. There was only a couple I guess if I think back on it.”

“Yeah, there could be some truth in that. And you had their guys playing the BMW, which is one of their signature events. You had I think it was 10 or 12 that were like in the top 15, something like that, maybe even better than that, which is pretty ridiculous.

“You had that and you only had one time zone change for them to travel. Actually, a couple were on the same time zone. There’s some merit to be said there, too.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.