Ryder Cup: Strange times for Tom Lehman. On Sunday, but for a little luck here and there, the US Ryder Cup captain could have won The International and played his way into the team for the match with holders Europe at The K Club next month.
If he'd won, Lehman would have moved to seventh in the US qualifying. Instead, his runner-up finish after a play-off left him in 19th position in a race that will finish here.
As if to demonstrate the inherent weakness in the American qualifying system, Lehman, who has had 19 career runner-up finishes on the US Tour and who hasn't won since the Phoenix Open in 2000, hadn't earned a single Ryder Cup qualifying point since the Accenture Matchplay in February, but could have dramatically played his way into the team with a win in the International.
It didn't pan out that way, though, with Dean Wilson, a six-time winner in Japan, claiming his maiden US Tour success.
It was a case of "ifs" for Lehman. If the tournament had been played in the traditional strokeplay format rather than in the modified Stableford system, Lehman would have won. If his tee-shot on the 15th hadn't hit a TV cameraman's tripod and ricocheted 60 yards back down the fairway, rather than jumping forward if it had missed the camera, he would have had a flick into the green rather than a mid-iron. If he had holed a 15-foot eagle putt on the 17th, instead of leaving it two inches short of the cup.
"It's just no fun finishing second. You play to win," said Lehman.
Still, Lehman, regardless of how he plays or what happens in Medinah, has decided his role at the Ryder Cup will be as captain and not as a player.
"I decided a while back that, unless there was some crazy, unforeseen circumstance, I would not play," said Lehman. "My putting is just a little bit too erratic. I don't putt poorly usually. I don't three-putt a lot. I just don't make enough putts, and in the Ryder Cup it's all about the short game, it's all about putting and chipping, is what it comes down to, guys who can knock the ball in the hole."
Lehman, who has been paired alongside David Howell here, could yet play his way into the US team (whether he likes it or not), if he managed a top-seven finish. "In terms of the PGA, I'm playing very well, driving it very well. I certainly feel like I have as good a chance as anybody to have a good week," he observed.
But he is also likely to be distracted to some extent by the qualifying race that has developed to fill the bottom-half of his team. Vaughn Taylor, JJ Henry, Zach Johnson and Brett Wetterich occupy the last places on the team, but none of them are assured of their spot.
Among those in position to leapfrog into the team are John Rollins (11th), Stewart Cink (12th), Jerry Kelly (13th), Lucas Glover (14th), Davis Love (15th), Fred Couples (16th), Tim Herron (17th), Tom Pernice (18th) and Lehman himself. Even Wilson, in 22nd, could dramatically claim a place if he were to follow up his maiden win in the International by winning in Medinah.
For those American players wishing to be on board the flight that arrives into Dublin Airport on Monday, September 18th, there is still a lot to play for. As is fitting, a major, the PGA championship, will be the decider.
Lehman's near success could even have a knock-on effect on the make-up of the European team, as Paul Broadhurst - in 11th place in the European race - has lost his place in the world's top 50 to the US captain and, as it stands, would not qualify for next week's lucrative Bridgestone World Championship in Akron.
