You Da Man!

Kite went back to his hotel, cleaned up and got a corner booth in the restaurant with his two main advisers, his wife, Christy, and his assistant coach, Dennis Satyshur, who is the head pro at Caves Valley in Owings Mills, Md., and a longtime friend. After the entrees they pared the list down to five names: Couples, Duval, Irwin, Janzen and Tolles. By the end of coffee it was two.

First Kite called Freddy and told him he was in. "You know all this talk about distractions?" Couples said. "Something like this sort of helps. I get on the course and forget all about them."

Then Kite called Janzen.

"Lee?" Kite said on the phone.

"Yeah?" said Janzen.

"It's Tom. You're in."

"I'm in?"

"You're in!"

"I'm in!" screamed Janzen, followed by whooping and hollering and the phone hitting the ground.

"Freddy was the consensus choice of all the players on the team," Kite said. "Lee? Well, I'm looking for guys who can get the job done when it counts, and Lee did it right in front of the Ryder Cup captain. That really impressed me."