KEY POINTS:
Perhaps more than any other Ryder Cup, the one starting on Wednesday (NZT) is about the captains and the 'captain's picks' - and the psychology and pressure that seeps through every strained sinew and every shot of this unique golf tournament.
On one hand is Nick Faldo, captain
of holders Europe and one of the most unpopular golfers ever to stand on a tee (in his previous reincarnation at least). He has enraged large slabs of the European golf community with his captain's picks or wild cards.
On the other is affable US captain Paul Azinger, desperate to stop Europe winning the coveted trophy for a record fourth time, and his four wild cards who look more like wild turkeys, if the popular US brand of bourbon will forgive me.
Each non-playing captain may choose four players from outside the list of those who qualify for the Ryder Cup during the season. It is in these choices the fate of the Cup might hang - and they definitely give a clue to the psychology of the captains and the pressures of the post.
Faldo's two wild cards were Paul Casey and the flamboyant Ian Poulter. Most judges felt Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, a dogged match player, was in better form and a better Ryder Cup bet than Poulter, better known for his gaudy trousers and avant garde hairdos than for being at the sharp end of tournaments. Poulter is, for many, more likely to be found in lederhosen than on a leaderboard.
Things were made worse when Poulter passed up the final chance to qualify by electing not to play in a previous tournament. Clarke supporters howled in derision that Poulter had been tipped the wink by his friend Faldo and knew he would not have to play to make the Cup team. Faldo and Poulter denied collusion but the knives will be out if the Englishman doesn't play well or, horror of horrors, Europe loses.
Faldo aggravated things again with a defensive, stumbling press conference which recalled some of his worst moments with the world's media - characterised by sarcasm and rampant dislike and which he had successfully put behind him in his reincarnation as everyone's favourite golf commentator.
Critics are saying Faldo's famed focus ('do it my way or else...') saw him leave out older players such as Clarke and Colin Montgomerie, who has a good Ryder Cup record, in favour of younger players he can mould. They give him what Faldo most wants - control.
Azinger chose Steve Stricker, Chad Campbell, JB Holmes and Hunter Mahan. The latter distinguished himself when he spoke out against the Ryder Cup, saying the players were like "slaves".
"The whole week is extremely long," he told Golf magazine. "You've got dinners every night - not little dinners but huge, massive dinners. I know, as players, that's the last thing we want to do. You're just a slave that week."
Mahan added: "At some point, the players might say, 'we're not doing this any more'. Don't be surprised if it happens. It's just not a fun week like it should be." Somehow, Mahan was chosen in spite of this naive outburst.
Then there's Campbell, a fine ball striker but whose putting has deteriorated to the extent that a talent once described as 'a major waiting to happen' no longer elicits such descriptions.
Holmes is a huge hitter and, on his day, can tear up any golf course. On other days, he can be wildly inaccurate and more likely to hit a low-flying duck than the fairway.
Stricker is the world No 8 and an obvious choice, given his sound form of the past two years but many of the senior pros - Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Justin Leonard and Stewart Cink - all have decidedly ordinary Cup records. Leonard, an accurate player you would think would be good in match play, has won zero from eight encounters.
So the choice of the wild cards has firmed opinion the US haven't a hope, especially without the injured Tiger Woods.
But, whoa. Woods does not have a good Ryder Cup record anyway. World rankings, tournament earnings and mighty reputations mean nothing in the hurly-burly of Ryder Cup matchplay.
The advantage the Americans have is that they have a young team; one not strongly peopled by players who have had a lashing at the hands of Europe before. They will not be intimidated and will not be scared of taking a risk.
They have potentially inspiring players like Anthony Kim and good ole boy Boo Weekley and Holmes - if he can manage more of his 62s than his 82s. Those with nothing to lose can carry away the greatest plunder and the Americans will be hoping that is so.
However, the Europeans will be favourites and deservedly so. There are rumblings the crowds gathering at the Valhalla golf course in Kentucky will be out for blood and ready to barrack the Europeans as US crowds used to do to Montgomerie, the temperamental Scot.
We'll see. There's only one thing certain in Ryder Cup play - nothing is certain.
RYDER CUP TEAMS
US TEAM
Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Ben Curtis, Boo Weekley, Chad Campbell, J.B. Holmes, Hunter Mahan, Steve Stricker.
EUROPE TEAM
Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Soren Hansen, Padraig Harrington, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Robert Karlsson, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Oliver Wilson.
