Media coverage for this 2006 edition of the Ryder Cup is off the charts. Every major newspaper carried a story, accompanied by a picture, of the US team arriving in Ireland on Monday. When was the last time the arrival of golfers at the airport was news? By now, many non-golfers have heard about jovial US Ryder Cup Captain Tom Lehman’s light-hearted approach to the most intense pressure cooker perhaps in all of sport. Lehman has everybody thinking the US golfers are going to play like surfer dudes, just chillin’ out.

It’s a shell game - a diversionary tactic.

Don’t be fooled. Lehman burns to win. Look at the type of player he was in his prime, challenging for major championship titles and begging to be the first off in singles play of team competitions. He relished the duel and was undefeated in 3 singles matches – a real battler. Lost in this hoopla over the fun coaching style on display to the public is that Lehman has assembled a very tough-minded staff in the gritty bulldog Corey Pavin and putter-supreme Loren Roberts. All three were some of the few successful US Ryder Cuppers during this recent era of European dominance, totaling a sparkling 16-8-2 record. (Compare that to Euro Captain Ian Woosnam, staffers Peter Baker & Des Smyth’s combined record of 19-18-5.) You can bet these three are subtly in the ears of the US golfers away from the glare of the spotlight, infusing them with everything they know about their own successes in this most difficult of golf competitions.

It says here that the US team will pull off the upset, 15–13.