On being named last night at the new captain of the US Ryder Cup team, Ben Crenshaw warned that the "Gentle Ben" sobriquet "might be a misnomer at times." It was his way of demonstrating that he possessed the necessary toughness to win back the coveted trophy.

The selection of Crenshaw, as a successor to Tom Kite, was something of a surprise given that Hale Irwin was viewed as a more likely choice. It was also unexpected insofar as he has been out of the golfing scene for the last seven weeks because of surgery.

But the 45-year-old Texan is seen by the PGA of America as the ideal choice to restore former glory in the wake of an unprecedented second successive defeat for a US side. Crenshaw will have until September 1999 at the Country Club, Brookline, to get the task right.

"Sure, there is extra pressure because of those two defeats in a row," he conceded. "We've certainly felt the sting of those losses but it also means that the players won't need any incentives when they go into action again."

When asked to name the high-point and low-point of his own Ryder Cup career, Crenshaw's answers were fairly predictable. "The high-point was unquestionably my debut at Walton Heath in 1981 when our captain was Dave Marr who, sadly, is no longer with us."

As a member of a side reckoned to have been the strongest every to represent the US, Crenshaw made only one appearance in the four-balls and foursomes. That was as Jerry Pate's partner in a four-ball defeat by Mark James and Sandy Lyle on the afternoon of the first day.

But he went on to win his singles by a crushing 6 and 4 margin over Des Smyth. And it was another Irish player, Eamonn Darcy, who was central to his Ryder Cup low-point. "That was at Muirfield Village in 1987 when I broke my putter," said Crenshaw. "Eamonn and I had a great match and he beat me one up. We've laughed a lot about that incident over the years."

The incident to which Crenshaw referred was a fit of temper after he had three-putted the sixth green. Venting his frustration on his putter, he smashed the shaft and was forced to putt for the remainder of the match with the leading edge of his sandwedge or a one-iron, much to the annoyance of the captain, Jack Nicklaus.

There was little evidence of the "Gentle Ben" demeanour on that occasion. As he admitted last night: "I can be very competitive and I suspect that some players have been a little surprised by this, over the years."

It is a case of one Texan following another. And Crenshaw was quick to defend the commitment of Kite who blamed the lack of familiarity with the venue for the American defeat at Valderrama. "I don't think anyone fully appreciates the phenomenal year Tom has had," he said. "He was within an eyelash of making the Ryder Cup team himself."

Crenshaw went on: "And I agree with him about the difficulty of playing at a strange venue. The situation brings to mind a simple but very accurate phrase by the great Bernard Darwin who wrote `It is tough to play in the other fellow's country.' It may sound simplistic, but it contains a wealth of commonsense.