Moments after Lee Janzen signed off on his 67 Friday to seize a one-stroke lead in the PGA Championship, he found himself backed against the wall of Winged Foot Golf Club.
“How much Spanish do you speak?” Tom Kite inquired.
“Un poquito,” Janzen replied, only too delighted to respond.
Such is life. Millionaire players gather here for the season’s last major event, all the better to audition for next month’s Ryder Cup matches in Spain, an international competition that pays in pride.
Kite is the United States captain, shackled with the responsibility of selecting two fellow Americans to complete his traveling squad of 12. By Monday morning at eight bells, he must submit his roster to the world. The Europeans have two weeks to do likewise. He wishes he could wait.
“I came here thinking the Ryder Cup business would take care of itself,” Kite said. “I was hoping two guys would step forward and make my decision easy. Instead, it’s getting more confusing. What did John Cook shoot today?”
There are locks for the U.S. team, such as Tiger Woods, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard and Jim Furyk. They’ve earned enough points to qualify as automatic top 10s. Then there is the bubble brigade, fellows such as Tommy Tolles, Davis Love III and Jeff Maggert, who might be a swing away from being fitted for uniforms or staying home with their passports.
And then there are long shots such as Janzen who come here and shoot lights out, compounding Kite’s dilemma. Throw Fred Couples in that hopper too. He’s played infrequently and inconsistently this summer, but he is a Ryder Cup veteran, and he’s merely two shots behind Janzen.
And don’t dismiss the captain himself, just three shots off the lead.
“If I win here, would I pick me?” Kite repeated a question, then didn’t answer it. “I don’t know. I’m playing well. What did Mark Brooks shoot today?”
Kite does have an exemplary Ryder Cup record. He participated in seven of these flag-waving competitions from 1979 to 1993 and has yet to lose a singles match. He’s 15-9-4 overall and thus has contributed 17 points to the history of American golf supremacy. Why, the great Jack Nicklaus checks in only slightly higher, at 18.5.
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However, the last American playing captain was Arnold Palmer in 1963, when the Ryder Cup was not nearly the international happening it is now. The U.S. romped 23-9, and it was considered business as usual. That was before Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and ESPN.
“If anybody could do it, Tom could,” said Lanny Wadkins, America’s captain for the 1995 defeat at Rochester, N.Y. “He’s very organized. But there’s so much to do. While the morning matches are being played, the captains from both sides have to submit their lineups for the afternoon.
“Now if Tom is playing a match himself, that’s going to be pretty difficult. How do you concentrate on playing when you’re worrying about how everybody else is playing? Two years ago, I found myself driving from match to match in a cart. When I wasn’t in the press tent giving interviews.”
The wildest wild card of all might be John Daly, who fell from a share of the first-round lead with a 73. He is long enough, and pleasantly goofy enough, to intimidate the Europeans. Problem is, he might also scare the Americans. That’s why a strong finish here by Couples would comfort Kite, who might like a reason to pick Tom Watson too.
“What did he shoot?” the captain asked. “He shot 79?”
That’s a lot, in English or Spanish.