The Ryder Cup can bring out both the best and worst in professional golfers.Just ask Phil Mickelson.Watson and Mickelson didn’t see eye-to-eye in 2014GettyIt is a dramatic, high-pressure event that pits the world’s best players against one another, as Team USA faces off against Team Europe.The 45th Ryder Cup tees off at the end of the month on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park in New York, with America, led by captain Keegan Bradley, seeking redemption against their European rivals, captained again by Luke Donald.In 2023, Europe defeated USA by a score of 161⁄2 to 111⁄2.The high-stakes event can lead to a lot of turmoil, both externally and internally. Look no further than what Mickelson had to say 11 years ago.At the 40th Ryder Cup in 2014, tempers flared within the US camp as Mickelson very publicly – and not so subtly – called out captain Tom Watson.Mickelson openly disagreed with Watson’s pairing choices and lineup management. He did so sitting just a few chairs down from Watson during a press conference.“There were two things that allowed us to play our best, I think, that Paul Azinger [the previous captain] did, and one was he got everybody invested in the process,” Mickelson said.“He got everybody invested in who they were going to play with, who the picks were going to be, who was going to be in their pod, who — when they would play, and they had a great leader for each pod. “In my case, we had Ray Floyd, and we hung out together and we were all invested in each other’s play…“And the other thing that Paul did really well was he had a great game plan for us, you know, how we were going to go about doing this.Team Europe won 16½–11½ over Team USAGetty“How we were going to go about playing together; golf ball, format, what we were going to do, if so-and-so is playing well, if so-and-so is not playing well, we had a real game plan.“Those two things helped us bring out our best golf. And I think that, you know, we all do the best that we can and we’re all trying our hardest, and I’m just looking back at what gave us the most success.“Because we use that same process in The Presidents Cup and we do really well. Unfortunately, we have strayed from a winning formula in 2008 for the last three Ryder Cups, and we need to consider maybe getting back to that formula that helped us play our best.”Watson calmly responded and politely disagreed.“I had a different philosophy as far as being a captain of this team,” Watson said.“You know, it takes 12 players to win. It’s not pods. It’s 12 players. And I felt — I based my decisions on — yes, I did talk to the players, but my vice captains were very instrumental in making decisions as to whom to pair with.“I had a different philosophy than Paul. I decided not to go that way. But I did have most of them play in the practice rounds together who played most of the time in the matches. I think that was the proper thing to do… “Yes, I did mix-and-match a little bit from there, but again, you have to go with the evolution of the playing of the match and see who is playing the best and who to play with whom, and that’s what I did.”Europe would defeat the United States with ease at Gleneagles.In the last 10 Ryder Cups going back to 2004, Europe has won seven of them. However, the last four have been split 2-2.Bradley and Team USA consist of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler plus recent major winners J.J. Spaun and Xander Schauffele.Russell Henley, Harris English, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns complete the side.Donald has kept his Team Europe side consistent from Rome with Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre and Tommy Fleetwood the main men.Justin Rose, Rasmus Hojgaard, Tyrrell Hatton, Ludvig Aberg, Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka are also on the roster.