Tom Watson Gleneagles Spying Attempt Squashed

You know you've got a great Ryder Cup captain when the guy flies overseas to do some recon work on the golf course one year prior to the event. Tom Watson apparently did just that last week, according to an article on Scotsman.com. While visiting Gleneagles with vice-captain Andy North early last week, Watson received the 5-star treatment from the club's employees and officials... until he asked about past pin positions.

“I was up there [on Monday] going around with a couple of people from the golf course,” he said. "I [asked], ‘you wouldn’t mind getting me the pins for the Johnnie Walker Championship for the last five years, would you?’ They said, ‘yes, we would mind, so you’re not getting them! It was funny’.”

Well, you can't blame a guy for trying, right? While there is no way to determine which pin placements will be in affect during the 2014 Ryder Cup matches, knowing how the course was set up for past tournaments may have provided a clue.