Sutton: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson asked to do too much in Ryder Cup
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Sutton: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson asked to do too much in Ryder Cup

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Hal Sutton was considered an utter disaster as the captain of the 2004 American Ryder Cup team. In a home game at Oakland Hills, the U.S. side was thrashed by a record margin -- 18.5-9.5 -- in what remains tied as the biggest loss by the Americans in the biennial matches.

Sutton was lambasted for putting together the top two American players then (and now) and forming a team of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. The duo lost both matches they played as a team before being split up by Sutton.

However, that was just two points out of the 14.5 needed to win the Ryder Cup. It's a point Sutton made in an interview with Golf.com, in which he says Woods and Mickelson, especially Woods, have been asked to accomplish too much for the American side to succeed.

"We've created some real superstars in the U.S. who have failed us when it comes to [the Ryder Cup]," Sutton said. "They don't fail because they don't have enough talent; they fail because there's too much for them to do.

"I mean Tiger's Ryder Cup record [13-14-2] is not very good at all, but everyone expects him to carry the team. He can't get but five points. That ain't gonna win it. So everyone else has got to perform."

Mickelson isn't any better than Woods. He holds the dubious record of the most losses in Ryder Cup history.

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Ryan Ballengee

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