"I'm really glad I don't have to pick four players this morning"

Jack Nicklaus apparently thinks the U.S. can win the Ryder Cup, but Steve Elling isn't so sure after listening to Paul Azinger talk about how relieved he was not have to make his four Captain's picks Monday.

He's just postponing the pain, pushing back his root canal. The end of the American bench isn't any deeper than it was the last time around, when J.J. Henry and Vaughn Taylor were sent abroad to absorb a red, white and blue striping. In the two years since the 2006 matches, those two have six combined top 10 finishes.

The next wave of American possibles, 20-something players who entered the week in the top 16 in points, such as J.B. Holmes, Sean O'Hair, D.J. Trahan and Brandt Snedeker -- all in position to steal an automatic roster spot -- were summarily chewed up by the Oakland Hill Monster.

On the two weekend rounds, when the course softened and Harrington and Garcia were a combined 11 under, none of the four broke par. In fact, of the players in the mix for a spot on the U.S. roster, only Curtis broke par on the weekend. He was 1 under.

As for the old blood, the five players with Ryder experience who earned spots on Sunday night have a dubious record. Justin Leonard and Kenny Perry have never won a Ryder match and Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Stewart Cink are a combined 18-29-10.

Bob Harig also considered Azinger's plight, and offers this ounce of optimism from the American captain:

"For the first time in a long time, Europe is going to have everything to lose in these matches," Azinger said. "It's usually the other way around. Even though they've won five of the last six, they just seem to come in as the underdog. I don't know how that works. This time I think it's clear that we are the underdogs going into these matches."