Lehman adds Cink, Verplank to U.S. team as captain choices

MEDINAH, Ill. -- Tom Lehman sorted through numbers on a chart and the feeling in his gut, trying to decide which two players would help the United States end a dozen years of European dominance in the Ryder Cup.

He simply wanted the best, and picked up some experience along the way.

Lehman chose Stewart Cink and Scott Verplank as his two captain's picks Monday morning, leaving Davis Love III at home for the first time since 1993 and raising questions about how much winning really mattered in the selection process.

"I think what I'm wanting more than anything is a team that is just tough -- strong guys that will never give up," Lehman said. "And it came down where Scott Verplank and Stewart Cink made their decision for me."

Cink, 33, was one of the few wild-card selections who showed signs of life over the last few months, with three finishes in the top five to climb to No. 12 in the standings. He also was a captain's pick two years ago and will be playing the Ryder Cup for the third time.

The 42-year-old Verplank was a mild surprise.

He was a leading candidate to be a pick coming into the PGA Championship because of his accuracy off the tee and his putting, two key elements in match play. But he missed the cut after making two double bogeys on the final three holes at Medinah. Verplank, the first player to make his Ryder Cup debut as a captain's pick in 2002, finished 20th in the standings.

"I'm so pumped," Verplank said. "I don't know how you can have a better event than the Ryder Cup. I told Tom I was put on this earth to play in things like this."

The 10 who qualified during the two-year process were Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Chad Campbell, David Toms, Chris DiMarco, Vaughn Taylor, J.J. Henry, Zach Johnson and Brett Wetterich.

The last four have never played in the Ryder Cup, and Taylor has never competed in any form of match play.

The Ryder Cup is Sept. 22-24 at The K Club in Ireland. Europe has captured the cup seven of the last 10 times, including an 18 1/2-9 1/2 victory two years ago in Oakland Hills.

Europe's team will not be determined until after the BMW International Open on Sept. 3 in Germany.

"Clearly, Tom's decision to go with experience provides the United States with balance, considering that there are four rookies in their team," European captain Ian Woosnam said. "Both have played Ryder Cup, World Cup and Presidents Cup golf for their country, and therefore will bring a lot of international experience to Ireland."

This U.S. team has seven players who have won PGA Tour events this year, up from five players in 2004. Part of that was due to a revamped points system that emphasized how a player fared in the year of the matches, with a bonus for winning and quadruple points in the majors.

What made Lehman's picks intriguing is that Cink hasn't won in two years, while Verplank hasn't won in five.

Then again, Lehman's options were limited.

Of the players who finished between Nos. 11 and 25 in the final standings, only four players had won this year -- John Rollins (11) at the B.C. Open, Tim Herron (17) at Colonial; Arron Oberholser (22) at Pebble Beach; and Dean Wilson (23) at the International.

"There's not a lot of guys doing a lot of winning, period," Lehman said. "If I were only going to pick guys who have won, it would be a pretty small list. It's just kind of the nature of the international world of the PGA Tour right now."

With so many international players in America, Lehman kept a separate list to show how Americans only fared in PGA Tour events. For example, Jonathan Byrd tied for 20th at the PGA Championship. Counting only Americans at Medinah, he would have been 10th.

On that unofficial list, Lehman said Cink would have been sixth in the standings, and Verplank would have finished ninth.

"Winning is important," Lehman said. "But every bit as important is when you're in the hunt, how do you perform? And I think these guys performed well under the pressure."

Lehman had said all week that the four rookies who earned spots on his team wouldn't make him look exclusively at experience.

"Having that kind of experience played into my thinking," he said. "But I wasn't married to it. I was married to picking the two guys who I thought were going to make our team the best team, and those are the guys I picked."

Studying his options through the evening Sunday after the PGA Championship, he narrowed his choices to six players -- Cink, Verplank, Love, Lucas Glover, Steve Stricker and vice captain Corey Pavin, who won at Milwaukee last month for his first victory in 10 years.

Glover was the toughest call. He was 14th in the standings, but after opening with a 66 at Medinah, followed with rounds of 77-74 and closed with a 72 to tie for 46th.

"There's times in your life when you have this gut feeling about somebody, and you can't exactly put your finger on what it is and why," Lehman said. "At the end of the day ... not having played that well over the last three months, I could not quite pull the trigger on him."

Love has played on every Ryder Cup team since 1993, the longest streak of any American. But he has not cracked the top 10 since he lost in the finals to Geoff Ogilvy in the Accenture Match Play Championship. And needing an eighth-place finish at Medinah to earn his spot on the team, he shot 73-76 on the weekend.

"Davis hasn't played well, plain and simple," Lehman said. "He's been injured. He's still slightly injured. With all the experience he has and all he has accomplished, I still want to have guys playing well."