Ben Crenshaw and Mark James have, between them, participated in 11 Ryder Cups, but their only head-to-head competition came in 1981 at Walton Heath, where James partnered Sandy Lyle to a 3 and 2 four-ball victory over Crenshaw and Jerry Pate. Somewhat ironically, given the eminence of their accomplishments, the Ryder Cup playing careers of the two 1999 captains will be largely remembered for episodes both would just as soon forget.

In 1987, at Muirfield Village in Ohio, Crenshaw's fabled putter, "Little Ben", was misbehaving. Following a three-putt green which put him two down to Eamonn Darcy in their singles match, Gentle Ben and Little Ben repaired to the woods, where ensued a violent altercation which Little Ben lost. Putting with his one-iron and the blade of his sandwedge thereafter, Crenshaw lost his match to Darcy and Europe won, 15-13, for their first triumph on American soil.

For his part, James may be forever stigmatised by his comportment at the 1979 matches at the Greenbrier in While Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The behaviour of James and his running-mate Ken Brown (who will, along with Sam Torrance, serve as James' deputy at the Country Club next year) was so abominable that they were nearly sent home in disgrace. Two months after returning home, James was fined £1,500, while Brown, whose behaviour in the four-balls was deemed uncivil and unpardonable, was fined £1,000 and suspended from international team competition for a year.

"I don't want to comment on the specifics, but I don't think it would have been important today," said James. "A lot of things have changed since then. The tournament committee has changed, and I've worked very hard at changing my own image. I'll admit I was something of a rebel back in the Seventies, but what happened back then was really more about personalities than about misdemeanours."

The question was put it him: would Mark James the 1999 captain have tolerated Mark James the 1979 player?

"Oh, he'd have tolerated him, all right," replied James. "We're expected to deal with personalities in this job."

In an event still celebrated as a benchmark in American golf, the 1913 US Open saw Francis Ouimet, a 20-year-old caddie who had grown up in a house abutting the fairway at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, find himself tied at the conclusion of regulation play with two of the most renowned golfers of their day, British professionals Ted Ray and Harry Vardon.

The next day, Ouimet defeated his more famous adversaries in an 18-hole play-off. Not only was his legend firmly established, but so, to its occasional chagrin, was that of the venue.

While most golf clubs unabashedly lobby for the opportunity to host Major championships, the staid, blue-blooded membership of The Country Club has deigned to permit professionals to tread its hallowed fairways only twice since, commemorating the 50th and 75th anniversaries of Ouimet's triumph by playing host to the 1963 and 1988 US Opens. (Ironically, each of these also resulted in a Monday play-off; in 1963, Julius Boros defeated Arnold Palmer and Jackie Cupit, and in 1988 Curtis Strange routed Nick Faldo.)

It is a measure, then, of the status the modern-day Ryder Cup has achieved that The Country Club coveted the 1999 matches so enthusiastically that the membership acceded to the unthinkable, a devil's bargain in which the Brookline club agreed to stage the 2005 US PGA Championship as tribute for getting next year's Ryder Cup.

If ever there existed a real-life instance of being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century, this was most assuredly it.

Two days ago the captains of the respective sides were on hand for breakfast at the Country Club. It was an opportunity to get together under more amiable circumstances than are likely to obtain 10 months from now (Crenshaw and his wife, Julie, had taken Mark and Jane James to dinner in downtown Boston the previous evening). It was also a chance for James to explore firsthand a golf course he had not seen.

"I can't imagine a better place to have the matches than here at The Country Club," said Crenshaw, an accomplished historian of his sport. "A lot of wonderful things have taken place here. The terrain, I think, reflects beautifully its New England setting. It's a natural, rustic course, one that requires a great deal of thought, both off the tee and going to the greens."

James said this week that "before the event, picking the wild card players will be the most important duty, because if you get that wrong, you've got a serious problem with your team".

All of which may be more easily said than done. Consider: of the following roster of players who have been part of a European resurgence that has resulted in two straight Ryder Cup triumphs - Faldo, Torrance, Ian Woosnam, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Costantino Rocca, Jesper Parnevik, PerUlrik Johannson and Philip Walton - not one would be among the 10 automatic qualifiers if James had to select his squad today.

"With more tournaments from this side of the Atlantic counting towards our Ryder Cup points, the list will be more representative (by next) year," said James. "Specifically, Parnevik and Faldo have both rejoined our tour on a full-time basis and they'll be playing enough tournaments to qualify for our money list. The two wild cards will be truly wild, but I think everyone who has a chance of making the team will have had their chance."

Given the economic explosion that has accompanied the Ryder Cup in recent years, it's no surprise that some greedy players on both sides of the ocean have begun to wail that they should be sharing in the booty. The would-be dissidents will not find a sympathetic ear in either Crenshaw or James.

"I feel very strongly about keeping things the way they are," said Crenshaw. "I'm just old enough to feel than any deviation would be an affront to the players who have come before us since 1927, and who have made it possible for Mark and myself to enjoy the life we've enjoyed in professional golf. That supersedes any other viewpoint I can possibly come up with. People know we're out there playing as hard as we can for what we are and what we represent. I think any deviation would be something I'm against."

"I couldn't agree more," said James, the one-time rebel. "For the ordinary person on the street to look at how much the players have won over the past 12 months just to get into the team, they're going to wonder where reality has disappeared to. A lot of players would give their right harm to have played in a Ryder Cup, let alone want to be paid for the privilege of doing it."