Dan O'Neill

You have to admit, it’s all kind of silly. Imagine the New York Yankees calling a press conference, nationally televised, for Joe Torre to name the 24th and 25th men on his roster.

That’s not a perfect analogy, but you get the idea. In keeping with the insane amount of hype that encircles the Ryder Cup, the PGA of America held a press conference on Monday morning at Medinah Country Club, where Tom Lehman announced his two at-large picks for the U.S. team that will head to Ireland Sept. 22-24.

Cue the drum roll, send up the fireworks, raise the curtain, and the picks are …. Stewart Cink and Scott Verplank.

OK, that’s over, now what do you want to do?

Yes indeed, those Europeans are in for it now. They may have won the last two Ryders, and four of the last five, but wait until we get over to Ireland and sick our at-larger-than-life captain’s picks on them. The big K in K Club is going to stand for Kicking, as in our boys kicking some Euro-butt.

C’mon. I don’t mean to make fun of our players or our captain. As we say in the club, hate the game not the players. But let’s get some perspective. In 2004, our Ryder Cup comps were Cink and Jay Haas. The skipper’s selections went a combined 2-4-1 and the Colonials got it handed to them 18 ½ to 9 ½ at Oakland Hills in Detroit.

Cink has not won a tournament of any kind in two years. Verplank has not won in five years and just missed the cut at the PGA with his Ryder Cup pulse seemingly hanging in the balance. So much for going with the hot hand, and so much for fretting over captain’s picks.

36th Ryder Cup Europe 18 1/2, United States 9 1/2 Record-tying rout for Europe | Results   Slide show: Top images from The K Club   Discuss: What went wrong for U.S. team? Opinion: Tiger not to blame | Has ideas Opinion: Get used to these Euro routs Clarke wraps up emotional, successful week Woosnam's choices on money | Euros rejoice McGinley's concession denied shot at record Tiger wins after caddie lets one slip away Verplank gets first American ace Individual points | All-time champions The K Club (pdf. file) | Future sites

Lehman said he only slept two hours on Sunday night as he sweated over at-large applicants. Dude, seriously, you could have flipped a coin, turned on Seinfeld and been done with it. The bottom line is, Lehman could have picked Happy Gilmore and Roy McAvoy, Abbott and Costello, Bert and Ernie.

Don’t get me wrong, the U.S. would love to get some help from their two add-ons, but in the end, it just shouldn’t matter, just as it shouldn’t matter that there are four rookies on the squad. The latest line has the U.S. as a slight favorite to win in Ireland, but they should be a convincing favorite.

They will have the world’s Nos. 1, 2 and 3 ranked players on their team. They don’t need to worry about a few inexperienced players or a couple of at-large picks. They just need to have their large players be large.

Slide show   PGA Championship Top moments from Tiger's win at Medinah

For all of his major championships (12), PGA Tour wins (51), records, yachts and color-coordinated outfits, Tiger Woods has been all too ordinary in Ryder Cup play. This will be his fourth consecutive Ryder Cup appearance. In the previous three, he totes an overall record of 7-11-2.

He is 2-1-1 in singles, but he has been especially disappointing in foursomes, where he is 2-5-1. He beats the pants off everyone during the regular season, but when it comes to this bi-annual postseason, he has underachieved..

Lehman is planning a dress rehearsal in Ireland, a meet and greet for his team. Woods, due to a prior commitment, won’t be there.

“If I ever hear somebody question Tiger Woods’ desire to be a part of this team again, I’m going to go crazy,” Lehman said. “Tiger Woods cannot wait to play in this Ryder Cup. He is looking forward to this Ryder Cup every bit as much as looking forward to playing in the PGA Championship, the British Open, the Masters and the U.S. Open.

“I’m going to tell you one thing, also, that Tiger told me. He said, ‘We’ve got some young guys on the team. Don’t worry about the young guys, I’ll take care of them.’ That tells you about the leadership of our team.”

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