David Feherty witnessed some fascinating sights while at the recent President's Cup at Royal Melbourne, working for the CBS TV Network. Top of the list was what he describes as "a horrific arse-kicking" for the American team. Yet, much as he would like to, he cannot draw a direct link with next September's Ryder Cup.
Immediately after the matches, Europe's Player of the Year Lee Westwood warned of dire repercussions at The Country Club, Brookline, arising out of America's torment. "They'll be twice as determined to stick it to us," he predicted.
On talking to Feherty, however, one could instantly appreciate the value of a more mature, rational mind when applied to the biennial showpiece which Europe has dominated over the last four years. The key lies in some of the other things he saw in Melbourne.
"The US boys may have been trailing on the golf course, but most of them were ahead in the casino," he said. "The distinct impression I got was of guys having an early Christmas holiday. It was certainly a long way removed from what we have come to expect in the Ryder Cup."
As a keen student of golf, who played the game rather well himself, Feherty doesn't balk at biting the hand that has ensured him a full cupboard, since he moved to the US five years ago. "The American pros don't seem to realise that the game was never meant to be played from one perfect surface to another," he says.
"So, on a (Alister) Mackenzie course, in difficult, windy conditions, it was almost a certainty they would come to grief. But Brookline will be different. It is a much more placid animal, which leads me to believe that September's battle will be as tight as most of the others in recent years."
As a final refutation of Westwood's thesis, Feherty said: "Either way, the President's Cup will be long forgotten by then and we'll be assailed by the sort of hype that only the Ryder Cup can generate. Quite frankly, I'm really looking forward to it this time.
"For a start, the rival captains are fascinating guys. In the belief that neither man needs to be a great motivator, I think Ben Crenshaw will be superb. He is respected and approachable, which are the two most important qualities for a captain. He is also one of the most loved men in the American game.
"I expect him to become far more emotionally involved than Tom Kite seemed to be at Valderrama, where he had Michael Jordan riding with him in his golf cart. As I discovered at Kiawah Island in 1991, the Ryder Cup is a very emotional occasion for the players, which means that the captain must be careful to send out the right signals.
"Of course Mark James could hardly be more different to Crenshaw. I expect him to be your typically pragmatic Yorkshire-man, very different from the tearaway who ruffled a few feathers at The Greenbrier in 1979. What age was he then? Twenty-five, 26? Either way, the European team were getting stuffed and it didn't matter too much."
Looking towards Brookline, which had 300 yards added to its overall length in an upgrading by architect Rees Jones prior to the 1988 US Open, Feherty finds himself drawn towards the 17th hole. Though it's a relatively modest-looking par four of 381 yards, he believes it will have a critical bearing on the eventual outcome.
Interestingly, it is where Harry Vardon effectively handed the 1913 US Open to Francis Ouimet by driving into the bunker on the apex of the right-to-left dog-leg. And it's where Curtis Strange three-putted for a bogey in the 1988 US Open, so allowing Nick Faldo into a playoff.
Then, the following day, Faldo bogeyed the hole by over-shooting the severely undulating green in the playoff for the title.
"Obviously there's no comparison with the short 17th at Kiawah, where I beat Payne Stewart in 1991, but from a match-play standpoint, it remains an extremely tricky, second-last hole," he says.
Feherty then turned to the one Irish player who seems certain of a place in the European team, though he is hoping Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley or Philip Walton might make a charge. "I'm over the moon for Darren Clarke," he says. "Not only has he become a really fine player; he is achieving a consistency that we haven't seen from an Irish player since Ronan Rafferty.
"I see major potential in Clarke. Apart from his undoubted golfing talent, he has the necessary cockiness to succeed at the highest level.
"Tiger Woods has also been a revelation to me this last year. When all the unrealistic expectations about him died away, we could appreciate the depth of his talent and the fact that it still required some nurturing. I've a feeling we'll see a very significant contribution from him at Brookline."
Feherty has a strong opinion on the controversy that has built up around whether Ryder Cup team members should be paid. "I think their contribution should be acknowledged, with their money being donated to charity," he says. "It is the one time that we play the game for the game's sake and it would be a dreadful pity to lose that."
Finally, if you wonder while looking at Feherty this year why you're confusing him with Phil Mickelson, the answer lies in a rather elaborate, $20,000 dentistry job to his top deck, done recently at the request of his employers at CBS. "I'm so pretty, I can hardly keep my hands off myself," he says with a wicked chuckle.
