Montgomerie must be smarter than me to only need three assistants for the Celtic Manor contest, says counterpart Pavin

Pavin, the 1995 US Open winner, was preparing for the Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie yesterday when Montgomerie revealed that Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley would be helping him to try and regain the Ryder Cup later in the year.

"They are great picks. There are a lot of choices that Colin had and from outside looking in, which is what I'm doing, I think they are very good selections," said Pavin, the man handed the task of trying to build on the first American win in four matches secured by Paul Azinger's side two years ago.

"I had my reasons for picking my assistants and I'm sure Colin has his. I think they are excellent people to have out there helping."

Montgomerie reckoned his decision to have three vice captains should be easy to understand given that, on the first two days, four matches are out on the course in the morning and then again in the afternoon. "Having someone with each match means we'll be able to control and analyse things," said the Scot.

Asked if there was a particular reason he decided on four vice captains in Tom Lehman, Jeff Sluman, Davis Love and Paul Goydos, Pavin observed: "Colin must be quite a bit smarter to only have three. I'm not quite as smart. I picked four because I wanted to have an assistant captain walking with each group in the four matches the first two days and to keep an eye on things. That's just my choice and obviously Colin felt three was enough."

Lehman, who is also playing at Carnoustie in this week's senior major, has warned Europe's confident players not to get too confident about the Ryder Cup, especially if they are basing the world rankings as the reason why Montgomerie's men will be going into the match as strong favourites in October.

He rightly pointed out that American players still dominate those standings in four of the top five places, Lee Westwood, at No 3, being sandwiched between Tiger Woods (No 1), Phil Mickelson (No 2), Steve Stricker (No 4) and Jim Furyk (No 5).

"America has a great chance. We have a lot of very experienced, phenomenally-talented players and some exceptional young guys, too," said the 51-year-old, who captained the US when they lost 18.5-9.5 to Ian Woosnam's side at The K Club in 2006. "I am thinking of the likes of Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan and Ricky Barnes. We saw at Louisville two years ago that you need aggressive players and Kim and Mahan were shining lights. They are guys who don't care where the pin is, they still go for it, and we are going to have a very strong team."

Lehman was annoyed by a claim made last week by Ian Poulter that the gap between the aging American players and the younger generation is widening because of a lack of talent coming through. "Poulter can say that because he is very talented himself and he calls it like he sees it, and I respect him for his honesty. But I hope Poulter lives to regret his words come October. I just wish I was a young guy in with a chance of playing in Wales," he added.

"There is no doubting that Europe has a bunch of top competitors who know how to win and they will be tough to beat. I have to take my hat off to the quality of European players right now. They have enjoyed some phenomenal success.

"The American college system is the greatest training ground in golf for up and coming pros, but, with more and more players from overseas, there are fewer opportunities for our guys. It's not so much that we lack talented young players coming through, it is more a case of them maybe lacking experience. But come October we will have a bunch of very talented guys with something to prove. Nobody will push Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods or Jim Furyk around, I promise you."