Paul McGinley believes criticism of Tom Watson is unfair given the "body blows" the U.S. Ryder Cup captain was dealt.
Watson came under fire following Europe's resounding 16½ to 11½ victory at Gleneagles, Scotland, last month.
While McGinley was hailed as one of Europe's finest captains, Watson's leadership was called into question. Phil Mickelson, a senior figure on the U.S. team, bemoaned his country's approach to the event.
McGinley leaped to the defense of eight-time major winner Watson, pointing out that Watson handled significant setbacks before the Ryder Cup.
"Losing Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods being injured were two massive blows," McGinley said. "And then [FedEx Cup champion] Billy Horschel going on to play as well as he did in the weeks after Tom made his picks.
"Those were three difficult things for Tom to absorb and I think people are losing a bit of sight of that. There were some body blows to the American team, while we were sailing.
"We had Rory [McIlory] playing as well as he did and being established firmly as world number one, with Martin [Kaymer] winning the US Open, with guys like Jamie Donaldson winning his last counting event to make the team."
McGinley relished the opportunity to pit his wits against his idol and insisted he was not aware of any discontent in the U.S. team as he plotted their downfall.
"I really enjoyed being around him [Watson], but in terms of what went on I'm not privy to it and, to be quite honest, I don't want to know what went on," McGinley said.
"We were much more concerned ... 99 percent of what I did concerned the European team and I wasn't really that bothered with what the American team were doing in terms of pairings.
"I knew that they were going to be strong and we'd have to be on it that if we were going to win that Ryder Cup."