While Nick Faldo was toiling diligently under a burning sun at Medinah yesterday, the man he most wanted to impress was coasting to a sparkling 67. And it was clear that European Ryder Cup skipper Mark James needed quite a deal more convincing.

Faldo, who desperately wants to be selected for a 12th successive appearance in the European side at Brookline next month, believes he has earned what would be his fifth wild-card. "I'm finding my form at the 11th hour and in a month's time I will be playing really well," he said.

"I don't know what Mark (James) is thinking, but I have unravelled the knots and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. I think it would be good to have me on board. We've got a pretty young, rookie team and nobody has got more experience than I have."

Responding to those views, however, the captain said: "I think experience is probably overrated. I'm looking for players who will play well under pressure, and Nick Faldo certainly comes into that category. But he knows he has to show some form." James then added pointedly: "I would also love to have an inform Seve Ballesteros and Ian Woosnam in the team, but there comes a time when everyone has to move over. That's life."

And what of his own position? "I've decided what I will do if I qualify for the team, but I am keeping that to myself. All will be revealed, as they say, next Sunday afternoon in Munich. Garcia looks to be the only one who has pushed himself forward here. No other European has done anything significant, in my view."

James's 67 contained six birdies, four of them on the front nine. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the round, however, was the way he got up and down to save par at the 17th, where he sank a four-foot putt, and the 18th, where a 10-footer found the target.

Meanwhile, Faldo's desperate bid for recognition reflects a deep affection for the cut and thrust of Ryder Cup combat in which he has won more matches, 23, than any player on either side of the Atlantic. His accumulation of 25 match points, including four halves, is also a record.

Visitors to his living room will be drawn not to mementos of his three US Masters triumphs, nor three British Open victories, but to the money clips he has received for 11 Ryder Cup appearances. "It is the true test of your competitiveness," he said. "The most important thing is scoring that point."

By way of emphasis, he recalled the 1989 matches at the Belfry, where Christy O'Connor Jnr and Ronan Rafferty were in the side which retained the trophy. Faldo said: "I remember Ronan telling me he was going out there to try to do something. I told him he would have to do more than try. Trying is no good at the Ryder Cup; you have to go out and really do it."

The 42-year-old Englishman went on: "I've seen guys high as kites with elation and I've see others flat on their backs on the floor and exhausted by it all. I don't really know why it gets so emotional, but we've all shed tears at one time or another."

Faldo points to the protective hand he showed to younger players as a Ryder Cup partner to Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood, and then as a World Cup colleague to David Carter, when England triumphed in Auckland last November. But in a richly ironic twist, he may have cut a stick for his back through a towering performance at Oak Hill four years ago.

By coming from two down to beat Curtis Strange with a glorious wedge to four feet at the 18th for a winning par, Faldo exposed the frailty of his opponent's putting. And US skipper Lanny Wadkins learned too late that if a player were capable of holing crucial putts, he would be winning tournaments, which Strange wasn't doing at that time.

Faldo is in the same position right now. And nobody is more aware of the fact than James.