The atmosphere inside the USA locker room was very tense on Friday. The world’s best players were thrashed at the hands of Mike Weir’s men. World no.1, Scottie Scheffler, no.2, Xander Schauffele, all came undone. Barring two matches, none went beyond the 13th green. Captain Jim Furyk, of course, noticed the heavy air inside the room. At that point, the confidence level of the team was badly hit. Even Kevin Kisner, the assistant captain, was reeling under pressure. So, when 54-year-old Furyk stood up everyone listened.

“We are not gonna panic. We are gonna sit here. We have got a game plan. We are sticking to the game plan. We know exactly who we wanna play and when and why,” Furyk said. The game plan that he was talking about was set pretty early on. And here, pretty early denotes weeks back. Kisner can now reminisce about it. But when he first received the call from Furyk, he never realized what went on behind the scenes.

Sure, the four-time PGA Tour winner has been part of the squad before. But the new role offered a glimpse of the planning stage. And Kisner was overwhelmed by how thorough Furyk had been. 

The pairings and the schedule were fixed two weeks before the team’s landing in Montreal. Kevin Kisner, in a chat with Smylie Kaufman, revealed what Furyk told him, “We are not gonna deviate from the plan no matter how it goes. This is what we wanna do.”

Jim Furyk was last year’s Ryder Cup vice-captain as well. This year, he set a precedent. Keegan Bradley, the captain for the Bethpage Black battle, admitted he would take many things to the next year’s Ryder Cup. 

“To kind of watch the subtle things that he does and the pairings he put together and the matches we did before, the real matches, man, he’s done just a great job in inspiring all of us,” Bradley said on Sunday. Interestingly, Kevin Kisner also highlighted another factor that catapulted Team USA to victory. The work of the ‘nerds’.

Scouts were the unsung hero working with Jim Furyk

Jim Furyk relied on the scouts to pick the pairings. Scouts, or ‘the nerds’, as Kisner and his teammates used to call them in their playing days, offered the insight that went into the planning stage. The six-time PGA Tour winner joked, “Like we used to call them the nerds when I played. Oh yeah, the nerds want me to play with Phil Mickelson again.” 

Word was Mickelson himself, wanted to pair up with Kisner and made that happen in 2017. Apparently, Lefty wanted only him in his group. But never mind that now. The men in red, blue, and white were all amazed at Jim Furyk’s work. 

Even though he broke the Scottie Scheffler—Sam Burns pairings. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele played two sessions together. Ultimately, all the bold gamble played off. So, it’s safe to say that his strategy to rely heavily on scouts was the right call. And, no wonder, Bradley has new learnings.