Leading questions about the role of the captain

Is Woosnam struggling? Has Lehman made a great start? As the teams prepare for next week's collision, James Corrigan assesses the fitness and form of the Ryder Cup figureheads

What other sporting captain spends two years preparing for three days when the only direct influence he can exert is the order in which he writes down a number of names from a list of players he has had little part in selecting? Only the Ryder Cup.

So how is it then, that going into next week's match at the K Club in Ireland, Tom Lehman has already been adjudged one of the great captains of the Cup's 80-year history and Ian Woosnam one of the lousiest? Would it not be fairer to, say, wait for at least a few shots to be hit before praising them as geniuses or damning them as numbskulls?

Of course it would, but that would be to deny the biennial tear-up its by now traditional build-up. Ever since Tony Jacklin made himself the central character of golf's most watchable soap opera, the captain has attracted a spotlight that does not leave them for the duration of their reign. Every one of the 100-odd weeks which comprises their reign they are quizzed long and hard about what sort of leader they will be and their preparations are queried and analysed to the degree that follows the nth.

Accordingly, Lehman has already been cast as the hero for scrounging advice off anybody and everybody and for managing to persuade his team to go on an all-expenses paid sneak preview of an arena that could very well put them into golfing legend. Vice versa, Woosnam is the villain for keeping his own counsel and not putting his arm around a player he had the temerity to overlook for one of his two wild cards.

And to hell what actually comes to pass when someone finally takes a swing at the ball.

Does any of this make sense? Not to someone like Tom Watson, no. The winning captain of 1993 swears that the position is all about the ceremony rather than the cerebral. "What can a captain do, apart from the speeches?" he says. "Sure, the pairings and all that, but it's still all about the golf they play. All he can do [when talking to the team] is use the immortal words of Jim Colbert: 'Play better!' Bottom line, they just have to play better. They've been waxed. The other team is just a better team. It wasn't luck. They made more putts and made better shots."

Colbert was another Starred and Striped professional from the era when America simply had to turn up - and even then, not always all of them - to win and it is understandable that these perpetual winners look on their perpetual losing heirs today with a mixture of incredulity and disgust for having the excuse of bad captaincy to fall back on. Indeed, Tony Jacklin has a theory that the American fixation with their all-omnipotent past has hamstrung their future captains.

"They were definitely slower than us to see the value of having partnerships that would die for each other and having a bonding within the unit that was unbreakable," said arguably the finest captain of them all. "We stole a march on them as they relied on what they always relied on - them having the better players. The 'best team' thing seemed to have escaped them."

Hal Sutton could be the living embodiment of this. Even now, two years on, the cowboy-hat wearer refuses to accept the blame for the calamity of Oakland Hills when he tried to fit the square peg of Tiger Woods into the round hole of Phil Mickelson and so forged a disastrous pairing which gave Europe the impetus for their record victory.

"Here's the truth," said Sutton last week. "Do you think Tiger and Phil were going to get through their whole career on the same team and somebody wasn't going to put them together? You think the world wanted to see it? Absolutely! I wanted to see it. You wanted to see it. You had your opinion whether it would work, whether I was right or I was not. And it's easy to talk about now. Listen, I didn't hit a single drive or hit a single putt all week. At the end of the day, failure is about whether the ball goes in the hole."

"If only," as many of Sutton's fellow members of the "Ridiculed Ryder Club" would no doubt comment. Rather like air traffic controllers, it is only mistakes anyone remembers. It would help if there was a manual listing a proven formula for success, but all that exists are a few techniques that are shrouded in secrecy. Nick Faldo, who will captain Europe in Valhalla in 2008, claims that Jacklin has passed one down to his successors. "It is the strategy we Europeans use in foursomes," he said earlier this year. "It's one area of the Ryder Cup we've dominated, and this really is the reason why we've won four of the last five Cups. Jacklin invented it, and it's beautiful in its simplicity and devastating in terms of its effectiveness. If the Americans got wind of it, there would go the Ryder Cup. It's subtle, but very visible when you look at it head-on. An observant person can see it."

Woosnam cannot be either in the loop or observant then, because he has confessed he has no idea what Faldo is on about. And neither for that matter has Lehman. "That's like the Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe isn't it?" he said, although it has been increasingly obvious that the pair have been seriously flapping in the dark for answers. Recently they were both asked: "What makes a great captain?" Their replies made interesting reading.

Lehman: "I'm not really sure I know. Obviously you have to be passionate about it. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes for your team to have the best chance to succeed. With that said, you can still make the wrong decisions. One thing I've learned through this thing is you have to trust your gut. I believe in getting advice and input from other people, but at the end of the day you need to trust your instincts."

Woosnam: "The ability to communicate and give advice and share the experiences I've had. Everyone is welcome to have their say and I will be open to opinions from anyone. The captain should also provide the best for his team - from the clothing, to travelling first class, everything they need."

So there you have it. One of next week's leaders believes that his "instincts" will get him through; the other that it's all about communication and getting things right in preparation. Isn't it ironic then, that Lehman, the so-called "complete captain" said the former and Woosnam, the so-called "complete buffoon" the latter? It goes to show there is no right orwrong way. Not until Sunday evening, anyway.

Captains Fantastic: Five of the best Ryder Cup leaders

* DAI REES, Captain of Great Britain, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961

If this diminutive Welshman had not inspired the victory at Lindrick in 1957 then the record books would show that America would have remained unbeaten in 22 matches and more than 50 years and there would very likely have ceased to be a Ryder Cup. Rees, a playing captain who strolled his singles 7 and 6, took advantage of American complacency in leaving Sam Snead and Ben Hogan at home to lift the BBC Sports Personality of the Year prize after presiding over a final-day fightback in which only Peter Alliss failed to deliver. A youngster called Anthony Jacklin was in the Yorkshire crowd and became a Ryder Cup addict from then on.

* TONY JACKLIN, Captain of Europe, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989

When the Englishman took over in 1983, the home side - or Europe as it was now known - had not won in 26 years, a fact that makes his tenure of two victories, one defeat and one half all the more remarkable. Jacklin is rightly credited as heralding the era of the inspirational Ryder Cup leader - and it was not just on the course where his cajoling was irresistible. His most telling success was undoubtedly to persuade Seve Ballesteros to revoke his vow never to play again and armed with the greatest American-humbler in golf, Jacklin set off, on Concorde, to dismantle the myth.

* BERNHARD LANGER, Captain of Europe, 2004

After a tetchy build-up, during which the German drew the wrath of the British press for daring to take his daughter to her first day in college rather than attend the first day of the final qualifying event, Langer established himself, as the perfect captain at Oakland Hills. It helped, of course, that in the other corner was Hal Sutton and while the American's practice was a shambles, Langer had his men playing in pairs, often swapping them around after nine holes. This meticulous teetotaller ensured that the high spirits among the Europeans remained and second-guessed his counterpart all week. The record win was all he deserved.

* WALTER HAGEN, Captain of USA, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1935

No other captain comes close to matching The Haig's record of four victories and although these were notched up in the event's early years, when tactics were considered rather ungentlemanly, his contribution to the Cup's history should not be underestimated. The champagne-swilling Godfather of the modern professional, who once said, "I don't particularly want to be a millionaire, just to live like one", saw the potential in the transatlantic tussle, both competitively and socially, and went to great lengths to promote it. His efforts were recognised by President Roosevelt after his final victory in 1937, whose words began: "To the greatest general in the world." No one argued.

* BEN CRENSHAW, Captain of USA, 1999

Although seen as partly to blame for the over-the-top celebrations at Brookline in 1999, in truth Crenshaw's main crime was in leading the finest fightback in the Cup's history. At 10-6 down and seemingly out on Saturday night, Crenshaw did two things to lift his side's spirits. First he told them and everybody else, "I have a good feeling about this" and then he asked George W Bush - then a governor - to deliver a motivational speech during which "Dubya" evoked scenes of the Alamo. The next morning, Crenshaw packed his top players into the top end of the singles, so precipitating a tide of American points which engulfed Europe.

Calamitous captains: Five of the worst Ryder Cup leaders

* HAL SUTTON, Captain of USA, 2004

Colin Montgomerie's joke may be cruel, but it is fairly accurate. "Langer was the second best captain Europe could ever have wished for," says the Scot. "Sutton being the first." Sutton, who donned a black cowboy hat for a first day that was more "Blazing Saddles" than "High Noon", will always be remembered for pairing Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson together in a partnership that made Tom and Jerry look compatible. Then Sutton publicly admonished a player - Chris Riley - for admitting he felt tired, then he dropped Mickelson for the Saturday foursomes and then he carried on bungling. Hal's never been seen again.

* BRIAN HUGGETT, Captain of Great Britain & Ireland, 1977

It's not a good idea for a captain to fall out with his most high-profile player, in public, on the last day, when you are getting stuffed. But that is what this Welshman did when dropping Jacklin from the singles after a fierce greenside argument. Jacklin was furious when given a dressing-down from Huggett for having lunch instead of "getting out there to support the lads". The future captain let forth. He accused Huggett of "sitting in his room and pulling the pairings out of a hat". "Huggett taught me how not to be captain," said Jacklin many years later.

* ERIC BROWN, Captain of Great Britain, 1969, 1971

The 1969 competition became legendary for a final hole concession by Jack Nicklaus that halved the match and became synonymous with sportsmanship. Alas, it had nothing to do with the home captain at Birkdale that year. Brown had some strange ideas on how to win and they included not helping their opponents look for their balls in the rough. His counterpart, Sam Snead, found out about this edict and so relationships soured. Its nadir was reached when Ken Still shouted at Brian Huggett after one flare-up: "You can have the hole and the goddamn Cup," and later continued the argument in a corridor at the teams' hotel. Thank goodness for Nicklaus.

* MARK JAMES, Captain of Europe, 1999

As the doughty Lancastrian only lost the Cup by a point it might seem somewhat harsh to lump him in with the worst Ryder Cup captains, but controversy makes his inclusion in this category necessary. Apart from making the mistake of trying to win the Cup in two days, by not playing Jean van de Velde, Jarmo Sandelin and the strange wild-card choice Andrew Coltart until the Sunday singles, James also raised eyebrows, not to mention blood pressures, by throwing Nick Faldo's good luck note into the team-room bin. Fortunately for his legacy, the Americans dancing across the green with Jose Maria Olazabal still to putt dominated the Brookline inquest.

* RAY FLOYD, Captain of USA, 1989

Woosnam has admitted that the aspect of captaincy he fears most is the speech at the opening ceremony. Perhaps that's because he remembers the catastrophe that slipped out of Floyd's mouth in 1989. In an attempt to imitate Ben Hogan's showstopper of two decades before, Floyd introduced his team as "the 12 greatest players in the world". The difference was that in 1967 America really could boast that, but with Faldo, Ballesteros, Langer and Woosnam himself in opposition this time, it was nothing short of insulting. Using this slur as their motivation, the Europeans marched to the defence of their title. Floyd later confessed his words were "ill-advised". Understatement.