You Da Man!

Maggert kept peopling Kite's sleep. Maggert had played well all year but has a reputation for having his shirt collar shrink three sizes on Sunday (see 1997 U.S. Open). He was 11th on the points list, not good enough, and sitting in fifth or 10th place last Saturday night at Winged Foot, depending on how you look at a six-way tie for fifth. He had to finish eighth to make the team on points. If he failed, would Kite risk taking him? "Probably not," said Maggert. "I think I have to make it on points."

Problem? What problem? Maggert nailed the round of his life on Sunday, a course-record-tying, five-under-par 65 that vaulted him straight to Spain. "I played to try and win," said Maggert. "That's the only way I could play it."

Greatest day of your life, Jeff? "Not yet," he said.

Maggert's Christmas was Tommy Tolles's root canal, since it was Tolles whom Maggert bumped from in at nine to out at 11, after Tolles had spent the entire summer in the top 10. "I stuck a dagger in my own heart," he said. Would Kite pick him? "No way," Tolles said. "I haven't won, I have no Ryder Cup experience, and I'm not a big name." He was right.

With four rookies on the team (Tiger Woods, Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk and Scott Hoch), Kite worried that he needed some graybeards around, so he spent a few dozen lightless hours pondering 47-year-old Tom Watson or 52-year-old Hale Irwin. Watson blew himself out by missing the cut at the PGA, but Irwin played a practice round with Kite last Tuesday—"a beautiful, flawless round," Kite said—and would finish a respectable 29th.

Hale Irwin? Senior tour? Glasses? True, but also a six-time winner on the over-50 circuit this year and the owner of a driver that goes straighter than a Kansas highway, perfect for tricky and tiny Valderrama. Plus, he and his .700 winning percentage in the Ryder Cup (13-5-2) have been through more tight spots than a ventilator repairman.

Still, when word got out that Kite was thinking of going with a creamed-corner, helpful opinions flowed in. "Why go old?" said Paul Azinger. "I say go hot. How much experience does a Tiger Woods, a Justin Leonard or a Jim Furyk need? These guys don't need a babysitter."

"I think you need someone who's been there," said No. 28 Payne Stewart, lobbying hard for himself. "You know what a Ryder Cup is like? It's chaos. No matter how good a young guy is, you can't imagine how wild it is. They've never had people pulling against them before, people everywhere, people hanging in the trees."

"To me, all this talk about experience is absurd," said No. 15 David Duval, whom Kite was also eyeing, though Duval has never played in the Ryder Cup. "It's like a guy trying to get a job. They won't hire you without experience, but how do you get experience if they won't hire you?"

Besides, why go with Irwin when there was an old guy playing better than him. That would be Tom Kite himself. Well, who wouldn't want a guy who this year was second at the Masters, tied for 10th at the British, was fifth at Winged Foot, is undefeated in Ryder Cup singles (5-0-2), and wouldn't bug the captain about being left out of any matches? This, too, was a matter Kite heard much about.