Montgomerie: Phil Mickelson should step up and be ’16 Ryder Cup captain

Colin Montgomerie has a bright idea: Phil Mickelson should be the 2016 U.S. Ryder Cup captain.

Monty, speaking with Kicca.com, a new sports-geared social media site in the U.K., laid the gauntlet to the left-hander.

“Phil Mickelson’s comments were heard and read around the world,” Montgomerie said. “A lot of people were thinking ‘Stand up to the plate. OK, if you feel that strongly about the situation become captain yourself.'”

After the U.S. loss the Ryder Cup for the third-straight time to the Europeans at Gleneages in Scotland in September, Mickelson torched captain Tom Watson, saying Watson did not listen to player input on any decision. Mickelson also wondered aloud why the PGA of America had abandoned the system 2008 captain Paul Azinger employed to win the matches at Valhalla, suggesting Azingers’ “pod” system of grouping similar players together in terms of social functions and in match pairings was a great fit for the American side.

Mickelson’s comments, in part, spurred the PGA of America to form an 11-man task force, whose mission it is to audit how the U.S. approaches the biennial matches and make changes. The task force, on which Mickelson is a participant, is also likely to identify a 2016 captain for Hazeltine, the next U.S. home match. That captain is expected to be named sometime in the first half of 2015. Three-time winning Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples has said he has been contacted by the task force, leading many to believe he’s the target for captain.

John Daly has also lobbied for Mickelson, or Tiger Woods, to take the reins.

Montgomerie also realized putting Mickelson at the helm might attract even more scrutiny on a U.S. team that has only won two matches in the last 10 tries.

“The trouble there, of course, is Phil would have to win the Ryder Cup,” Montgomerie said, “having said what he said, so it does put pressure on the whole system.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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