Lehman Plays Underdog Card

Like a gunslinger who reaches into his holster and pulls out a water pistol, the United States' Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman yesterday strolled into the K Club in County Kildare, venue of golf's biggest duel later this summer, with a bold swagger and a big problem. Two big problems, in fact.

For one thing his best player Tiger Woods, whose father Earl died two months ago, has played very little this year and what golf he has played has been conspicuously below his best. And for another at least half of Lehman's team to face Europe's best in September will, as things stand, be Ryder Cup rookies. Brett Wetterich, Vaughn Taylor, Zach Johnson, Lucas Glover and JJ Henry might all be worth their place near the top of the US team standings but their names would be unlikely to produced much knee trembling on the first tee at the Saturday club medal, never mind at the Ryder Cup.

"I guess you could say we are the underdogs," Lehman said when asked to sum up his team's prospects for September. "But I like that."

If this was bluster it was fairly convincing bluster because he then went about constructing a case for taking the American challenge seriously. "We have been thumped regularly over the last decade and, if you look at the world rankings, there are more European players in the top 25 than there are Americans.

"I see the Europeans as being very, very strong. I also see the American team as a team in transition. But we have a number of players who have an incredible amount of faith, a lot of confidence and who are on the way up. They are all guys who have had to go through a lot to earn their stripes, and that has made them tough competitors.

"It is very seldom the case that the stars win the Ryder Cup for their team. They do their part, of course, but it is usually the guys who you don't expect who come through and get the job done and make you victorious.

"I have played a lot of golf with these guys and they are really hungry. They are really motivated to be part of the team. You can't replace the attitude of the guys who have a bit of a competitive chip on their shoulder - they have something to prove. I like that. I like that a lot."

What Lehman might not like so much is the failure of any of the potential US Ryder Cup players to accept his advice to travel here this week for the European Open, although he pointed out that five, including Jim Furyk and Davis Love, will arrive in Ireland next week to play the course. Woods, he added, has played the K Club at least 25 times over the past few years when he has travelled to Ireland to prepare for the Open championship.

But if the world's No1 player will be ready for the golfing challenges the Ryder Cup will offer, it remains open to question if he will be mentally prepared. Woods's preference for individual as opposed to team play is a matter of public record and, given his bereavement, he may not be in the best frame of mind for the hoopla that accompanies the Ryder Cup.

"Tiger's father was always the guy who he could go to no matter what the situation and get the straight answer. I don't how you can replace a guy like that," Lehman said when asked about his star player. "What I do know about Tiger, however, is that he wants to enjoy the Ryder Cup, that he wants to have fun.

"If there is one thing that's held back the American team in recent years it is that we haven't enjoyed the actual competition that much. We have put too much pressure on ourselves. We need to have fun."