The veteran American golfer Phil Mickelson's made a scathing attack on United States Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson.
Shortly after the United States had slipped to yet another Ryder Cup defeat by Europe, Mickelson, with Watson sitting alongside him, told a media conference his captain had not engaged with the players and should have stuck with the system that worked successfully in 2008.
It sparked a firestorm of reaction from former European skippers Colin Montgomerie and Nick Faldo who said Mickelson was out of line and should have kept his thoughts to himself.
The former PGA Tour player Brandel Chamblee, who now works as a Golf Channel analyst, went even further, describing Mickelson as a golfer who had "corrupted the experience of the Ryder Cup".
Mickelson, who has now lost eight of his 10 Ryder Cups, was a frustrated figure during the US team's media conference where he praised the successful strategy adopted by Paul Azinger in 2008.
"Paul Azinger got everybody invested in the process," said Mickelson. "We use that same process in the President's Cup and we do really well.
"Unfortunately, we have strayed from that for the last three Ryder Cups and we need to consider maybe getting back to that formula that helped us play our best."
Montgomerie wondered why Mickelson had been the only player on the 12-man US team who did not travel on the chartered jet to Scotland last week.
