PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — First came the task force. Then came a party.
The Ryder Cup task force, formed to give the U.S. players more say in the decision-making process, quickly was assembled in the wake of the latest loss to the Europeans in 2014 at Gleneagles in Scotland, where American captain Tom Watson was a controversial and unmitigated disaster.
As for the party, Jack Nicklaus and his wife, Barbara, on Thursday night hosted a contingent of 25 prospective U.S. Ryder Cup team members for September’s competition at Hazeltine in Chaska, Minn., at their home in North Palm Beach, Fla., just down the road from PGA National, the site of this week’s Honda Classic.
What will it all mean for the U.S. side, which has lost the coveted chalice to Europe the past three meetings, six of the past seven and eight of the past 10?
No one will know for sure until golf balls are struck in anger Sept. 27 through Oct. 2 at Hazeltine.
The Americans, who since 1999 have captured one Ryder Cup, in 2008, the year of their historic comeback at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., frantically have been searching for the right — that is, winning — formula for the past decade-and-a-half.
Thursday night at the Nicklaus home — despite the fact neither a ball was struck nor a putt rolled — simply was the latest in the ongoing effort by the Americans to change their Ryder Cup fortunes.
Few will come out and say it, for purposes of political correctness, but these ongoing off-the-course maneuvers by the Americans are drawing under-the-breath snickers and eye-rolls from the Europeans, who are well-chuffed about their dominance of the most important event in the world of golf.
On Friday after his round, Spaniard Sergio Garcia, one of the emotional leaders of the Europeans’ stronghold against the U.S., was asked what his reaction was to the Nicklaus dinner.
“I don’t know what they talked about,’’ Garcia said.
Asked what he makes out of such a get-together taking place six months in advance of the competition, Garcia said: “If it works, it’s great. If it doesn’t, then, you know, they will try something else. We’ll see if it pays off or not in September.’’
Among the players in attendance at Nicklaus’ home was Tiger Woods, who is out indefinitely rehabbing from back surgery. Woods, who will be one of captain Davis Love III’s vice captains if he is not playing on the team, lives just a few miles north of the Nicklauses.
The group also included Phil Mickelson, who is bent on making his record 11th Ryder Cup team, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and some other stars as well as several less-heralded American players who are not likely to be on the 12-man team, such as Brian Harman, Andrew Loupe and Jason Kokrak.
The most notable player missing was Jordan Spieth, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, who is not playing the Honda Classic this week.
Shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday, Nicklaus, from his @JackNicklaus Twitter account, tweeted a group picture of the dinner attendees with a note that read: “Had a few friends over tonight to talk The Ryder Cup 2016 #teamusa.’’
A representative for Nicklaus called the gathering “a private get-together with no agenda.’’
Perhaps there was no tangible agenda Thursday night other than eating good food and drinking fine wine, but if you don’t believe there was an intangible, big-picture agenda to the gathering, then you don’t believe Donald Trump craves attention.
“Given this level of intensity this early in the campaign,’’ Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell said, “it just shows how fired up they are.”
Love said the 76-year-old Nicklaus “held court’’ with players asking questions and added: “We all learned something for sure. We got to see Tiger, Phil and Jack, all in the same room, talking to each other and asking each other questions. We had an awful lot of wins sitting there for some young guys to listen to.’’
It was the first time many players had seen Woods in months. Jimmy Walker lightened the mood a bit with his comments to the fallen star.
“I said, ‘Wow, you’re standing up and you’re not dead,’ ” Walker said. “He said, ‘I know. That’s how everybody thinks I am now — dead.’ ”
At the end of the night, Nicklaus told Love: “Anything else I can do for you guys, just let me know. Don’t hesitate to ask.’’
Maybe, if this task-force thing and these team-bonding parties don’t work at Hazeltine, Nicklaus can play for the 2018 side. He does, after all, have a 17-8-3 record in his six Ryder Cups, playing on five winning teams.
Because the Americans have tried just about everything else.