Dan O'Neill

At a post-PGA Championship news conference, a posturing Paul Azinger said his U.S. Ryder Cup squad would have a new persona when the 37th playing of the event arrives at Valhalla Golf Club on Sept. 16-21 in Louisville, Ky.

“We are going to take on an underdog role in this Ryder Cup for the first time in a long time," Azinger said. "We are missing the best player in the world in Tiger Woods. The pressure will be more on them. For the first time Europe is going to have everything to lose.”

The upshot, of course, is that Team USA has nothing to lose. We are Rocky Balboa to Europe's Apollo Creed, if we can put aside the performance-enhancement implications for a moment.

It's a good approach by the wily Cup captain, sets the right tone. The skipper wants his troops motivated, but he wants them loose. Play the "no respect" card, toss in some stuff about overcoming adversity, put a comfortable little chip on our shoulder and put all those nasty expectations on theirs.

There is, however, one potentially problematic aspect to what Azinger is saying — it's accurate. Team USA should embrace the undergo role because the shoe, in fact, fits. Europe looks to be better.

For starters, the U.S. will be without Woods. And while it's true Woods has been something less than Michael Phelps in these international competitions, he remains the No. 1 honcho in the game. Even if he doesn't especially play well with others, he's still a Jedi Knight when he plays the role of Han Solo.

“I don't see one single positive that Tiger Woods isn't on our team,” Azinger said..

Take a look at the eight players who are on the team — Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Ben Curtis and Boo Weekley. It's a nice group, a healthy blend of youth and experience, some long hitters, some good iron players. But does anyone scare you? Does the lineup suggest the Americans can disrupt a European side that has won five of the last six Ryder Cups?

Mickelson has wonderful talent and is No. 2 in the Official World Golf Rankings. But his rating would be unimposing if there were Official Ryder Cup Rankings. “Mick the Stick” has participated in six previous Ryder Cups and has a 9-12-3 overall record. He does not have a winning log in any of the three categories of competition.

In the final major championship of the year, played on a classic American golf course, six of the top 10 players in the European points standings finished in the top 20 at Oakland Hills in the PGA Championship. What's more, Ireland's Padraig Harrington won his second straight major, Spain's Sergio Garcia finished second, Sweden's Henrik Stenson tied for fourth and England's Justin Rose tied for ninth.

By the way, Harrington and Garcia contributed 8½ points to Europe's 2004 Ryder Cup victory, which was one less than the entire U.S. team accumulated.

Meanwhile, Team USA had three of its top 10 — the eight automatic qualifiers and next two highest in the points standings — among the top-20 in Detroit. Curtis finished third, Mickelson tied for seventh and Weekley tied for 20^th.

In other words, those four captain's picks are more than filler. Those four wild cards Azinger announces on Sept. 2 in New York are critical. When he petitioned for the change from two picks to four, Azinger had no way of knowing Woods would be on the disabled list, no way of appreciating the ramifications.

“For me, I always felt like four picks are better than two because there would be two less guys I would disappoint,” Azinger said. “Now as I look at it, it's actually becoming difficult.”