Page 15 - aruba-today-20220301

A15
sports Tuesday 1 March 2022
Johnson leaving U.S. system in place as next Ryder Cup captain

By DOUG FERGUSON In keeping with the guide-
AP Golf Writer lines that came out of the
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. Ryder Cup Task Force in
(AP) — Zach Johnson was 2014, Steve Stricker goes
on a ski vacation in Colo- from being the captain to
rado in late January when one of the assistants.
what he figured was a rou- Johnson dodged all ques-
tine video call turned into tions related to another
much more. On the call potential assistant — Phil
was the entire Ryder Cup Mickelson.
committee asking him to Mickelson's inflammatory
be the next American cap- remarks about the Saudis
tain. who are funding a pro-
"I had a pretty good ski day posed rival league, and
that day," Johnson said his acknowledgement that
Monday with a broad smile. he was willing to work with
"I had some blue pants and the Saudis to manipulate
a red top and I hit the white change in the PGA Tour,
powder." has damaged his reputa-
The gold Ryder Cup trophy tion.
was on a table next to him Four corporate sponsors
at PGA of America head- have decided to end part-
quarters as Johnson was Zach Johnson poses with the Ryder Cup trophy after being named the 2023 United States Ryder nerships with Mickelson,
introduced as the 30th U.S. Cup golf captain at PGA of America headquarters, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, in Palm Beach Gar- while Callaway Golf has
captain. His job is to try to dens, Fla. said it has put its relation-
achieve what six previous Associated Press ship on pause.
captains could not — win Mickelson was thought be
the Ryder Cup away from Cup (8-7-2) despite playing since 1993 at The Belfry will Johnson said it will stay a shoo-in as captain for
home. on only one winning team. be greater than ever. They the same for 2023 — six Bethpage Black in 2025,
The 2023 matches are at "I love going over there and are coming off the biggest qualifiers, six picks — with and future captains typi-
Marco Simone in Italy. competing. I love stretch- blowout ever over Europe, the same points system in cally serve as an assistant,
Johnson is used to beating ing myself. I love being a 19-9 margin at Whistling place. PGA Tour players as Mickelson was in Wis-
the odds. uncomfortable," Johnson Straits. can earn points only at the consin last fall.
He did not go to a power- said. "It is going to be hard. Johnson wasn't about to majors, The Players Cham- "Given basically where we
house college program as But it's also just a beautiful change anything. pionship and a World Golf are right now, I have no
a self-described "normal opportunity to go out there The U.S. went from eight Championships event this idea what lies ahead as far
guy" from Cedar Rapids, and give these guys an automatic qualifiers and year. And then in the Ry- as my vice captains and
Iowa. He was pea shooter avenue to be themselves four captain's picks to six of der Cup year. there will who is on this team," John-
in an era of cannons. But and play with freedom and each because of the CO- be points for every tourna- son said.
he won 12 times on the that's kind of how I'm going VID-19 pandemic in 2020 ment (except opposite- He offered roughly the
PGA Tour, captured majors to approach it." that left an uncertain PGA field events), with the four same answer the three
at Augusta National and St. The expectations of the Tour schedule and eventu- majors getting one-and-a- times the subject of Mick-
Andrews and had a win- Americans winning on Eu- ally led the matches to be- half more points (double elson or the rumored Saudi
ning record in the Ryder ropean soil for the first time ing postponed one year. for the winner). league was mentioned.q

Medvedev is 27th No. 1 in ATP rankings, overtaking Djokovic

By HOWARD FENDRICH bourne Park because he is tions that it happens this
Daniil Medvedev officially not inoculated — and has week," Medvedev tweet-
moved up to No. 1 in the said he won't get the shots, ed Monday, an apparent
ATP rankings on Monday, even if he needs them to reference to his country's
overtaking Novak Djokovic be able to play elsewhere, invasion of Ukraine. "Thank
to become the 27th man such as the French Open or you to my wife, team, spon-
to hold the top spot since Wimbledon. sors, friends, & everyone
computerized rankings be- Medvedev is the first player that has helped along the
gan in 1973. other than Djokovic, Roger way. It's a long journey and
Medvedev, a 26-year-old Federer, Rafael Nadal or I look forward to the years
from Russia who won last Andy Murray to get to No. 1 ahead."
year's U.S. Open and was since February 2004, when Djokovic's most recent stay
the runner-up at this year's Andy Roddick was there. atop the rankings started in
Australian Open, rose from Medvedev is also the first Feb. 3, 2020, and his total
No. 2. new No. 1 since Murray in of 361 weeks there are the Russia's Daniil Medvedev hits a return to Spain's Rafael Nadal
Djokovic slid down one November 2016 and the most for any man since the during their semifinal match at the Mexican Open tennis tourna-
place after having partici- third Russian man to lead tour's computerized rank- ment in Acapulco, Mexico, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.
pated in only one tourna- the rankings, following ings began in 1973. Associated Press
ment in 2022 because he Yevgeny Kafelnikov and He called Medvedev "very
has not been vaccinated Marat Safin. deserving" in a Twitter mes- ly said after his victory over change this week. "Ten-
against COVID-19. He was "It's a huge honor to take sage last week. Djokovic in the quarterfinals nis needs, of course, new
deported from Austra- over this spot. I'm sure ev- "It's great for tennis, I think, of the Dubai Champion- No. 1s. A new generation
lia and not allowed to try eryone can understand it to have somebody new at ships on Thursday guar- is coming up. I think it's just
to defend his title at Mel- comes with mixed emo- world No. 1 again," Jiri Vese- anteed there would be a great."q