David Toms appeared somewhat besumed by all the attention, a stranger to celebrity. But while mobbed by well-wishers here yesterday, the newly-crowned USPGA champion could sense the feelings of anticipation as Americans looked to him as a potential Ryder Cup hero at The Belfry next month.

It is difficult to view the $5 million NEC Invitational, which starts on the South Course tomorrow, as anything other than a Ryder Cup rehearsal, given the presence of the entire US team and probably 10 of the European one as well.

And with the select field of 39 going off in two-balls, there are such interesting pairings as Padraig Harrington with Toms, Mark Calcavecchia with Paul McGinley, David Duval with Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie with Davis Love.

Darren Clarke, the third Irish challenger, has what could be described as a neutral draw, in the company of Canadian left-hander Mike Weir. And the Tyroneman is reunited this week with his regular caddie, Billy Foster, who remained at home since the Dutch Open so as to be with his wife, who has been unwell.

Meanwhile, Harrington didn't want to think about the US team, though he expressed some surprise at the absence of Tom Lehman. As it happens, Lehman is not here this week, but he had made the decision last Friday, prior to being ousted out of the Ryder Cup top 10 by Toms and before being overlooked by skipper, Curtis Strange, as a wild card.

"When you start analysing the opposition, there is a danger you'll end up with mixed emotions," said Harrington. "Perceived advantgages can work against you. I hadn't a clue who I was going to be playing against at Brookline two years ago (when he beat Mark O'Meara) and I was happier that way."

The Dubliner, who was tied 27th here last year for a reward of $44,000, found himself giving almost daily bulletins about a stubborn injury to his neck and left shoulder. So he was determined to play down a similar problem with his right shoulder, which he "picked up" in Atlanta last weekend.

Remembering last year, Harrington said: "It's fine, nothing to worry about. I got a bit of treatment on it this morning. Everything's fine."

He also seems to have put behind him the horror of a nine on the 12th hole at Atlanta in the first round of the USPGA last Thursday, when he despatched three balls to a watery grave.

McGinley, who is widely accepted as a certainty in the European team, was the only player to have a full practice round here on Monday, in the wake of a 22nd-place finish in Atlanta. It was worth 49,536 points, pushing him up to 1,009,344 points in eighth place in Ryder Cup table.

Despite being reminded of Eamonn Darcy's misfortune 10 years ago, he is determined to become a late withdrawal from the climactic qualifying event in Munich, if at all possible.

It will be recalled that Darcy, in the belief that he couldn't be caught for ninth automatic place in the table, opted out of the German Open and went fishing.

In his absence, David Gilford did sufficient to edge past him by the pricely amount of £58.26, which became the margin in points between ninth and 10th position.

And when Jose Maria Olazabal, Nick Faldo and Mark James were named as wild cards by skipper Bernard Gallacher, Darcy was out in the cold.

Since the adoption of a European team in 1979, the closest any player came to Darcy's misfortune was in 1985. And it happened to his good friend Christy O'Connor Jnr, who was 115.89 points behind the automatic 10th position in 1985, when Jose Maria Canizares did the damage and another Spaniard, Jose Rivero, was preferred to the Galwayman as a wild card.

"That sort of thing need not happen," said McGinley yesterday. "It can be worked out precisely and I intend to do so next Monday morning, when I set the results from this week's Scottish PGA Championship against what happens here. I am prepared to pay the mandatory £500 sterling fine as a late withdrawal from the BMW International."

McGinley, who finished with a 67 here last year for a reward of $60,000, is looking towards a strategic break so as to heighten his prospects of a worthy Ryder Cup debut. "Ideally, I want a two-week rest before heading into the Lancome Tournament, then, hopefully the Ryder Cup, to be followed by the German Masters."

These sort of things hold a fascination for the ordered mind of Bernhard Langer. "The experience of Eamonn Darcy tells you to take care of every single shot in a golf tournament," he said. "That is what I try to do."

Indeed he does. And those familiar with the German won't expect anything less from him this week, as he attempts to improve his current position of ninth in the Ryder Cup table.

"A top-three finish here would do it," he added with a quiet smile.