John Huggan: Nevermind Tiger, I'm the boss

Published on Saturday 6 June 2009 19:51

ASK FOR the one word that best sums up her husband, American Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, and the former Lisa Nguyen doesn't hesitate: "honourable".

Which rings true. For this is a man who, four years ago, shot an opening round of 73 in the US Open at Pinehurst in North Carolina, jumped in a plane to California where he attended his son Ryan's high school graduation, then flew back overnight to North Carolina grabbing enough sleep en route to shoot 72, make the cut and eventually tie for 11t

Such a performance is testimony enough to both Pavin's loyalty to family and friends and the competitive nature that kept him in the world's top ten for more than 150 weeks between 1986 and 1997, produced 15 PGA Tour victories – including the 1995 US Open – and, unusually for an American, wins around the world in England, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, Germany, Korea and Taiwan. But the two aspects of his character have not always co-existed so smoothly; there was a time, especially before his divorce from first wife, Shannon, when most of his contemporaries on tour saw the now 49-year-old Californian as nothing more than an uppity little man with a bad attitude.

"I wasted a lot of years of potential friendships not really letting people see the way I am, who I am," Pavin acknowledged to American magazine, Golf Digest. "I regret the fact that I just didn't let myself be myself. I think I lost out on a lot of things. And I'm seeing what I lost out on. I'm learning from things I didn't do in the past."

Still, there is little doubt that such a level of introspection will do Pavin little harm in the latest chapter of a professional life that began as long ago as 1982. As Ryder Cup captain at Celtic Manor – where this past week he made the cut in the Wales Open – he will go head-to-head with one of golf's more intriguing psychological studies in European skipper Colin Montgomerie. It is a battle of wits the American is already looking forward to.

"All I can do is the best I can do as captain," he shrugs. "I'm not concerned about what Colin does with his team. I think the players are responsible for the victories, although it does seem like the captains are the ones responsible for the defeats. That was tongue in cheek, but there is some truth to it!

"So the captain's job is important. As far as the pairings go, there will definitely be times when I have to consider what Colin is doing and who he is putting where. He'll be doing the same with me, I'm sure. That's part of the strategy."

Within his own camp, the pressure on Pavin to handle, massage and manage 12 sizeable egos in a bid to beat the Europeans on home soil for the first time since 1993 will be just as intense. And, perhaps more to the point, he will be the latest US skipper charged with getting the best out of that seemingly reluctant Ryder Cupper, one Tiger Woods.

"The perception is that having Tiger in the team can cause problems internally, but there really aren't any," insists Pavin. "I was vice-captain in 2006 and spent a lot of time with Tiger. I watched how he was and how people reacted to him and how they behaved around him. All I saw was great stuff. We all got along fantastically. We had a great time on the Sunday night even though we didn't win. So the perception is just wrong. I don't think there is an issue there at all."

OK, while willing to accept that the world No.1 is nothing more than one of the guys within the team room, the fact remains that, given his astonishing record outwith the biennial bun-fight against the old world, Woods is a regular under-achiever when wearing the good old stars and stripes. His overall record of ten wins, two halves and 13 losses from 25 matches is hardly what one expects from a 14-time major winner.

"I've looked at some of the scores Tiger and his various partners have shot; they've been pretty good," continues Pavin. "But the Europeans have consistently played exceptionally well against him. When you play against the best player in the world – no matter who his partner is – people want to beat him even more than normal. He's a marked man in that regard. I know when I was playing my best golf and went up against Faldo or Price or whoever was best in the world at that point, I focused better and played better. So it's hard to be No.1 and have almost everyone raising their games against you.

"Plus, when you have a partner – I don't care who he is – and you are Tiger Woods, you are not going to be as good as you are as an individual. That's obvious; your partner just isn't as good as you are. It's as simple as that. I'm not saying the other players are bad, I'm just saying Tiger is that good. Any time he is paired with someone else, his influence is diminished. That's just commonsense and the reason why it is easier to beat him in a team situation than it is one-on-one. His individual record in the Ryder Cup (one loss in five singles] is excellent."

All of which constitutes good points well made. But for Pavin or any American captain there is more to it than just how Woods performs on the course. Without meaning to, the world No.1's mere presence can diminish the standing of the man officially appointed to lead the side.

"I hope my players look up to me in a different way than they look up to Tiger," he says. "I'm the captain of the team. I'm the leader of the team. That's my job. They can look at Tiger with respect as a player. But I'm the captain and I'm the one making the decisions. However I want to pair guys, for example, I'm going to pair them. I'll certainly be looking for input from the players, but the final decisions will be mine."

Pavin certainly deserves respect, if only for his own record wearing a Ryder Cup sweater. Indeed, just a look at the numbers – in three appearances he played 13 matches, winning eight and losing five – isn't really enough. Back in the early 1990s, Pavin was the guy no-one wanted to play. Standing on the 18th green as dusk fell on the second day of the 1995 matches at Oak Hill, Nick Faldo certainly feared the worst as the then US Open champion settled over the match-deciding chip he would subsequently hole from the edge of the putting surface. "I had a strong sense that, yeah, this is right up his street," says the six-time major champion. "In those days, Corey had that special thing."

That he did and nowhere was that more apparent than at Shinnecock Hills in June '95. Shooting an almost immaculate final round of 68 that was highlighted by a magnificent 4-wood shot struck to six feet on the closing hole, Pavin shed the unofficial title of "best player in the world never to have won a major".

"Corey stayed stone-faced all 72 holes," remembers his caddie, Eric Schwartz. "He put on a putting exhibition, but he never changed expression. He'd just puck the ball out of the hole, hand me the putter and beeline for the next tee. That last day was incredible, like I was being pulled along by this amazing intensity."

One gets the feeling, despite the obvious maturation process he has gone through over the last few years, that Pavin will bring more of the same to Wales next October. His wife is in no doubt as to his level of commitment.

"He's very organised, very pro Ryder Cup," says the second Mrs Pavin (they married in January 2003). "Let me put it this way. If he could have talked about anything on our first date it would have been about the Ryder Cup. He waited until probably the third or fourth date to talk about it. He has lived and died for the Ryder Cup since I've known him. He was absolutely ecstatic when he received the phone call."