Most of us have moved on from the American Ryder Cup victory last week, but I'm sure European captain Nick Faldo is still smarting from the U.S. upset, as well as the media dressing down that followed.

If there's a bright spot -- other not having to ignore Colin Montgomerie's phone calls now that the Cup is over -- it's that Sergio Garcia, arguably Europe's best player, has his captain's back.

Sergio Garcia leapt to the defence of unsuccessful European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo on Saturday, describing harsh criticism of the Englishman in newspapers this week as horrendous. ...

"Fortunately, [the Ryder Cup] happens only once every two years in golf but it happens all the time in football back at home. When a team loses, it's always the coach's fault.

"They never pick on the players like they should or give enough credit to the other team like they should."

To be fair, I've done my part to make sure the players catch hell for various absurdities. Whatever, Garcia's saying the right things even if his words don't hold true. Granted, Faldo struck gold with one of his captain's selections, Ian Poulter, but his strategery played a huge role in the outcome.

Sitting Garcia and Lee Westwood during the Saturday morning matches, and then sending out three of his best players late in Sunday's singles matches all contributed to the Americans winning the Cup for the first time in nine years.

Of course, Boo Weekley, J.B. Holmes and Hunter Mahan playing out of their minds all had something to do with it, too.

Last week, after the Ryder Cup made its way back into American hands for the first time in nine years, the Europeans commenced with the whinging. Lee Westwood was first up, complaining about Boo Weekley's unseemly on-course actions, and then Ian Poulter, who was one of the few bright spots for Nick Faldo in the three-day event, accused Anthony Kim of body-checking him during last Saturday's fourball match.

Apparently, it did happen, just not as Poulter contends.

"I wasn't even paying attention and I looked up and Ian had just bounced off me," said Kim, who helped the US to their first Ryder Cup win since 1999.

"I didn't even see him, to be honest. I'm a lot shorter than he is, so I'm not going to throw my elbow into him," he added.

"I wasn't out there to bump anybody. That's not the spirit of the Ryder Cup. This isn't football. I'm sorry he took it personally."

Kim added, "I finally tracked down Poulter during the closing ceremonies, walked up to him and slapped him in the face with an open hand. I said, 'See, THAT was on purpose; the forearm shiver yesterday, THAT was an accident. Got it?'" Kim then walked away and Poulter promptly collapsed in a heap and sobbed uncontrollably.*

Back on Earth, no clue if Poulter ever got word that Kim's actions were, in fact, an accident, but I'm quite certain he was over the whole affair as soon as he settled into that comfy salon chair to have those tips re-frosted.

* Fiction. Duh.

In the wake of the European Ryder Cup loss, a lot has been said about Nick Faldo's approach to the captaincy. That is, he sucked at it.

Now four days removed from the Cup, Ryder Cup snub Colin Montgomerie is calling for a change in the European system, most notably adding four captain's picks instead of two.

"I think Paul Azinger was very strong to go to the U.S. PGA and demand a change," Montgomerie said. "Having lost five of the past six Ryder Cups, a change had to be made for their setup and I'm sure that change will remain for the next captain. I think that for the future, eight and four is the way to go."

The "change" Monty talks about is what allowed Azinger to pick four guys for the team instead of two, most notably J.B. Holmes and Hunter Mahan, who combined for a 4-0-4 record. The point of the change was to allow the American team to pick from a larger pool, not subjecting the captain to a handful of players on the top of their game come Ryder Cup time and only two to choose from.

Lee Westwood might not have cared much for Boo Weekley's homespun pearls of ... well, something, but Kentuckians embraced the Florida native as one of their own, and after an impressive Ryder Cup showing, the guy who once got "Deebo-ed" by an orangutan is now a media fascination, as well.

It's all very entertaining in a peeking-through-your-fingers-at-the-freak-show sorta way.

In any event, the Los Angeles Times' Thomas Bonk documents some of Boo's best redneck philosophizing from last week. It's not exactly Descartes, but Weekley's take on his Ryder Cup uni could be the 21st century's "cogito ergo sum." Or something:

There are plenty of people who think that the Ryder Cup captaincy is nothing more than a glorified cheerleader with a nifty earpiece and a golf cart. In general, I don't disagree with this point of view.

Paul Azinger, the U.S. captain, feels differently, I'd think. He was instrumental in last weekend's outcome and spent almost two years laying the groundwork for one of the best American performances in well over a decade. (Yeah, I know, '99 was AWESOME, but, if we're being honest, the U.S. really had no business winning at Brookline.)

[The U.S.] celebrated as a team of 12 following a week in which they were three teams of four.

It was an intriguing concept that Azinger spent nearly two years cooking up. He built his team by doing personality profiles of three dozen potential players and grouping them accordingly.

The aggressive personalities were Kim, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan. The "Kentucky" group featured Kenny Perry, J.B. Holmes and Weekley (a Southerner) along with Jim Furyk, the misfit of the group who provided leadership. The emotionally quiet featured Steve Stricker, Ben Curtis, Stewart Cink and Chad Campbell.

Lee Westwood spent much of the Ryder Cup doing one of three things: losing, sitting, or whinging about losing or sitting. Specifically, Westwood, one of Europe's best Ryder Cup players -- at least historically -- berated America's Boo Weekley for his redneck antics, as well as some Valhalla patrons who made a few "your mama" jokes and prank called his parents at their hotel room. Scandalous, indeed.

Apparently, Westwood really didn't mean what he said. Or, at the very least, he meant it, but he now wishes he hadn't verbalized it because it makes him look like a crybaby.

"A lot of what I said in Valhalla during and after the Ryder Cup didn't come out quite as I intended and finished up sounding like sour grapes," Westwood said in the statement released by his management company.

"So let me say right now that I applaud America's victory, Paul Azinger's captaincy in general and the vast majority of the watching public who witnessed a titanic struggle between two very good sides.

"I regret that I singled out a small minority of the crowd who had a go at me and my family during competition days because far and away the greater majority were impeccably behaved and got right behind their team as did the excellent European supporters."

So, um, now what? The Americans won the Ryder Cup, Nick Faldo is taking a beating in the British rags, and Tiger Woods has been rendered obsolete. At least when it comes to team events.

There's still plenty to talk about in the wake of the Biggest Story in Recent Golf History* and there's the anti-climatic Tour Championship to go before putting a wrap on the 2008 season.

We'll cover it all today at 1PM EST.

* And by "recent" I obviously mean "since Tiger won the U.S. Open, and Paddy Harrington won back-to-back majors."

It took nine years, but the Americans have finally won back the Ryder Cup, a feat that, frankly, not many people were expecting a week ago. But Paul Azinger, the U.S. captain, is a wily sort, or, at the very least, had the great fortune of going up against one of the worst captains in recent Cup history.

Nick Faldo, a six-time major winner quite possibly known more for really loving himself, made several curious decisions during the three-day event (and several prior -- like leaving Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie at home), and that had a lot to do with the outcome.

But Azinger, and perhaps, more importantly, the fans who flocked to Valhalla to support the American side, also played a huge role.

The "home-field advantage" played a giant role this weekend...

On the eve of the event, Azinger told a rally crowd in Louisville not to be afraid to cheer if the Europeans missed a putt, as long as the missed putt secured an American victory at that particular hole. Garcia was witness to the obedient response. After Garcia rinsed a pair of shots into the water and conceded the seventh hole, he walked 200 yards to the green listening to bedlam with Kim pleading for the crowds to cheer louder.

"We created the 13th man, and I'm real proud of these people," Azinger said. "They made a big difference and kept our guys energized."

First, I'd like to apologize to the European Ryder Cup team. Not for Anthony Kim allegedly welcoming Ian Poulter to Kentucky, or the pranksters that rung Lee Westwood's folks at the hotel (By the way, just a thought, but ever heard of checking in under an assumed name? It's outside the box, I know, but it's just crazy enough to work.) but because they had to play for the egomaniacal nutter, Nick Faldo.

It's not like Faldo suddenly became a media whipping boy; he's been at odds with the British press, as well as most of his European counterparts, his entire professional career. And now, it's raining schadenfreude in the United Kingdom. And while we have yet to hear from Colin Montgomerie or Darren Clarke, two Ryder Cup veterans who Faldo left off this year's team, the media have more than picked up the slack.

"Faldo's thin skin, the need to have his sports shrink by his side even out on the course and his grating sense of humor, had confirmed what we knew all along, which is that he is no natural leader," the said. "But what we had not expected was that a man who had dedicated himself so much to this job would make such a colossal mistake."

So, um, yeah, let's hang Faldo in effigy! Or something.

The Ryder Cup is one of the only events in golf where you can really mess with someone's psyche. Stories of players jangling change in their pockets, or staring their opponents down do happen, and it even gets to the point where not conceding a short putt is tactical.

Ian Poulter is claiming one American player, who wasn't identified by the Englishmen but was noted as Anthony Kim, ran into him with his shoulder during Saturday's fourball match.

Cameras caught a collision between the two players as Poulter walked out of a tee box. Kim wasn't playing in the fourballs, but decided to walk the course as a spectator and was a boisterous presence as he cheered on Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk in their close fourball tussle with Poulter and Graeme McDowell.

"As opposed to walking around me as I was walking off the tee, he decided to drop his right shoulder into me," related Poulter. "You don't need that when you're playing. It's not what you'd expect from a fellow professional." Footage shows Poulter remonstrating with Kim shortly afterwards. Kim's energy, and his crushing victory over Sergio Garcia in Sunday's singles match, have been praised by the US press as vital to the team's victory.