Phil Mickelson ridiculed over his wild suggestion for next USA Ryder Cup captain

Phil Mickelson has pitched in with a surprising suggestion over who should captain Team USA in the 2027 Ryder Cup.

Amid all the post-mortem's being conducted into the performance of Keegan Bradley and his side at Bethpage Black, one of the hottest topics of debate is who should replace Bradley in Ireland.

Many have called for Tiger Woods to take over, although he turned down the role when approached by the PGA of America early last year.

American golf journalist Kyle Porter took to social media to insist that Woods is not the answer while posing the question: "Europe's excellence seems to emanate from a trust that is built by establishing relational equity and world class communication at every turn. Who can we get to build our version of that?"

And Mickelson replied with an outside-the-box idea, putting forward two prominent coaches - one basketball legend and one synonymous for his college football coaching career.

The six-time major winner suggested Team USA could look at bringing in Mike Krzyzewski or Lou Holtz.

Krzyzewski, widely known as Coach K, led the US basketball team to two Olympic gold medals, while he also won five NCAA Championship titles as head coach at Duke University.

Holtz is a college football legend who won national titles with Arkansas and Notre Dame Universities, but the latter of those was back in the 1980s. Holtz will be 90 years of age when the next Ryder Cup takes place.

"Here is why looking outside of golf to a coach K or Lou holtz is worth exploring," said Mickelson on X. Golf is an individual sport that doesn’t have team work, support system, partnership, team analytics, personality traits, and more. 

"The Europeans have a template that teaches and prepares their captains for these skills. U.S. has a new template every 2 years with little continuity. 

"If a coach K or Lou Holtz or someone similar took over, would it be built upon or would it be scrapped and start over again afterwards? If that’s the case, it would be a waste of time and effort and not worth doing to begin with."

And while many were in agreement with Mickelson's thinking, others pointed out the absurdness of having a 90-year-old at the helm.

One wrote" "Lou Holtz will be 90 in two years, and you want him as a full time captain?"

"Yup. I, too, came away from this weekend thinking that 90 year old former college football coach Lou Holtz is the missing piece for Team USA in Ireland," said another.

And the facetious replies kept coming, with one user adding: "The thought crossed my mind of whether Lou Holtz might actually be well fit as a playing captain?"

"Might as well ask Michael Jordan to coach," said another.

Others took issue with Mickelson due to his defection to the LIV Golf, with one labelling the left-hander a "mercenary".