The game’s rulemakers are widely expected to announce the controversial proposed ban on the anchoring technique when they hold simultaneous news conferences on Tuesday, at Far Hills in New Jersey and at Virginia Water in Surrey, England.

Should the governing bodies decide to go forward with that proposal in just over two-and-a-half years’ time, it is by no means guaranteed that all interested parties will automatically fall in line.

When the ban was proposed last November, the U.S. Golf Association (USGA) and the Royal & Ancient (R&A) said they wanted to outlaw the anchored putting stroke by 2016 in order to preserve the “skill and challenge” of putting.

Players and the golfing community were then given 90 days in which to discuss that proposal. By the end of that period, the European Tour had expressed its support of the idea while both the U.S. PGA Tour and PGA of America voiced opposition.

Golf could become extremely muddled, or messy at the very least, as it remains to be seen whether the PGA Tour and the PGA of America would back the anchoring ban should it come into effect.

During the buildup to the Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass earlier this month, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was asked about the likely response of the U.S. Tour.

“We haven’t even discussed internally in our organization what our response will be to their completion of their process until they complete it,” Finchem told a news conference at the Tour’s headquarters.

“We were asked our views. We made those views known to the USGA and the R&A, and they have to now complete their process.

“When they complete it, then we’ll turn around and have a conversation with our players and our board about the position we should take at that point. Until we get there, we’re not going to speculate on it.”

November’s announcement by the rulemakers came after three of the previous five major champions had used ‘belly’ putters – Keegan Bradley (2011 PGA Championship), Webb Simpson (2012 U.S. Open) and Ernie Els (2012 British Open).

Australian Adam Scott then followed suit when he won last month’s Masters while using a long putter anchored to his chest.

BLAZED TRAIL

Bradley blazed the ‘belly putter’ trail with his playoff victory over fellow American Jason Dufner at Atlanta Athletic Club and yet he cannot recall any fuss being made over his achievement at the time.

“Wasn’t a big deal at all,” the 26-year-old recalled. “I was the first one to do it, and after I did my press conference and stuff, I didn’t get asked one question about it.”

Asked to assess the possible impact on the game if the European and U.S. PGA tours went separate ways on the issue, Bradley replied: “It’s going to be a mess, but it’s very important to realize that no rule has been made yet.

“There’s a lot of speculation … maybe every tour will go against it, maybe every tour will be for the belly putter. At some point, everyone is going to have to get together. It can’t be just one group here and one group here.”

The R&A and USGA have said that putters should swing freely and not be anchored to any part of the body, and that swinging a club freely has been the essence of the 600-year-old sport.

Many of the game’s leading players, including world number one Tiger Woods and second-ranked Rory McIlroy, have backed the proposed ban by golf’s rulemakers.

“I just believe that the art of putting is swinging the club and controlling nerves,” 14-times major champion Woods said.

“Having it as a fixed point … is something that’s not in the traditions of the game. We swing all other 13 clubs. I think the putter should be the same.”

Bradley, who switched to a belly putter after turning professional in 2008, felt the PGA of America with its huge base best represented the feelings of golfers about the proposed ban.

“The PGA of America has got 27,000 club pros, they are connected into the game more than anybody,” he said.

“They have got pros that are at these clubs that have hundreds of members, so when the PGA of America is that against it, that kind of shows something.”

Tuesday’s trans-Atlantic announcement could well show something else.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue)

They snuck into the National Hockey League’s postseason as an eighth seed and went on to beat the Western Conference’s top three teams before defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-2 in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals.

This season, they are seemingly at it again.

After fighting back from a stumbling start to the lockout-shortened regular season, the Kings have steadily got better and better as a fifth seed in the playoffs.

Though their offense has not always sparked, their defense has been typically gritty and goaltender Jonathan Quick appears to have regained the form that earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player during last season’s playoffs.

Most importantly, the Kings have found a way to win games against all odds. On Thursday night, they scored twice in the last two minutes to stun the San Jose Sharks 4-3 and take a commanding 2-0 lead in their Western Conference semi-finals.

Kings captain Dustin Brown looked almost as shocked as his team’s bewildered but jubilant fans as he sat in front of his locker shortly after the final buzzer sounded.

“We didn’t play a great game tonight but we found a way to win,” he told reporters after Los Angeles scored two power-play goals in 22 seconds to edge the devastated Sharks.

“That’s the important thing. Two big power-play goals. We stayed with it. It’s a roller coaster, but when you go through the experience of everything we did last year, you keep your emotions in check.

“Two minutes left, down one, it’s about capitalizing. We’re happy with the result, but we have to play better. We can’t let it get to that situation every night.”

THUNDEROUS ROARS

With the Kings on a five-on-three powerplay, Brown tied the score at 3-3 with a backhand shot at 18:17 of the third period to spark thunderous roars from a sellout crowd of 18,527 at Staples Center.

Moments later, center Trevor Lewis pounced on a loose puck from the left side of an open net for the go-ahead goal.

Kings center Anze Kopitar, who left the ice for a few minutes early in the third period after being cut above the lip by a flying puck, applauded his team’s gutsy effort after being outshot by the Sharks for much of Game Two.

“We realized it wasn’t our best effort, but sometimes good teams win when they don’t deserve it too,” the Slovenian forward said after Los Angeles had won their sixth straight playoff game. “We pulled it out … and next time we want to make sure we’re not in a position like this.”

Kopitar, who had 20 stitches on the cut above his lip, knows the Kings face a daunting challenge at the infamous Shark Tank when the series shifts to San Jose for Game Three on Saturday.

“It will be electric,” he said. “That building gets pretty loud. A couple of years ago, I was in the stands when the guys were playing so I know how loud it can get. We got to get up there and try to win a game.”

The Kings opened the year just 3-5-2 but gradually got back to more consistent winning ways as they went 27-16-5 in the regular season with five wins in their last 10 games.

Seemingly built for the NHL season’s finish line rather than the starting block, Los Angeles are thriving in the white-knuckle pressure of the playoffs and head coach Darryl Sutter does not care how the wins come.

“You have to win a lot of different ways, I don’t think there is a consistent pattern to it at all,” he said after the Kings were outshot by the Sharks 27-8 over the first two periods of Game Two.

“I didn’t like how many penalties we took but our penalty killing did a good job. The power play came through for us but every game is different. We found a way.”

(Editing by Frank Pingue)

The U.S. Golf Association (USGA) and the Royal & Ancient (R&A) said in statements on Friday they would “announce final action on proposed changes to the rules of golf” on Tuesday.

In all likelihood, next week’s announcements will end almost six months of back-and-forth speculation about the best way forward on this topic for both professionals and amateurs.

Last November, the game’s ruling bodies proposed a ban on the anchored putting stroke, saying they wanted to outlaw the practice by 2016 in order to preserve the “skill and challenge” of putting.

Players and the golfing community were then given 90 days in which to discuss that proposal. By the end of that period, the European Tour had expressed its support of the idea while both the U.S. PGA Tour and PGA of America voiced opposition.

November’s announcement by the rulemakers came after three of the previous five major champions had used ‘belly’ putters – Keegan Bradley (2011 PGA Championship), Webb Simpson (2012 U.S. Open) and Ernie Els (2012 British Open).

Australian Adam Scott then followed suit when he won last month’s Masters while using a long putter anchored to his chest, becoming the first player from his country to triumph in the year’s opening major.

Asked whether he thought his Masters breakthrough might reshape or even extend the protracted debate over anchored putters, Scott told reporters: “I don’t know that this is going to impact any decisions at all.

“You know my feeling on it all; that it was inevitable that big tournaments would be won with this equipment because these are the best players in the world and they practise thousands of hours.

“They are going to get good with whatever they are using. It’s inevitable. I don’t know that is going to have any impact on any decisions upcoming.”

Before last week’s Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was asked about the likely response by the U.S. Tour should the proposed ban on anchored putting come into effect.

“Well, as we’ve said all along, we haven’t even discussed internally in our organization what our response will be to their completion of their process until they complete it,” Finchem told a news conference at the Tour’s headquarters.

“We were asked our views. We made those views known to the USGA and the R&A, and they have to now complete their process.

“When they complete it, then we’ll turn around and have a conversation with our players and our board about the position we should take at that point. Until we get there, we’re not going to speculate on it.”

SWINGING FREELY

The R&A and USGA have said that putters should swing freely and not be anchored to any part of the body, and that swinging a club freely has been the essence of the 600-year-old sport.

Many of the game’s leading players, including world number one Tiger Woods and second-ranked Rory McIlroy, have backed the proposed ban by golf’s rulemakers.

“I just believe that the art of putting is swinging the club and controlling nerves,” 14-times major champion Woods said.

“Having it as a fixed point … is something that’s not in the traditions of the game. We swing all other 13 clubs. I think the putter should be the same.”

Northern Irishman McIlroy, a double major winner, agreed.

“Fully agree with the anchoring ban. Better image for the game of golf, skill and nerves are all part of the game. Level playing field in ’16,” McIlroy tweeted after the proposed ban was announced.

However twice Masters champion Bernhard Langer represents the views of several players who feel the proposed ban is a “cop-out” with no empirical evidence to back it up.

“I personally see no point in changing the rule, and I am not saying that because I use a long putter,” former world number one Langer, 55, told Reuters.

“This thing (the use of long putters) has been around way too long. If it was an advantage or illegal, then they (golf’s rulemakers) should have made it illegal a long time ago. That’s a cop-out.”

The German, who turned to the long putter after suffering from the yips, felt the best argument against banning the anchored putting stroke stemmed from the fact there was no perceived advantage based on all the available evidence

“Who is using a long putter, or a belly putter? Twelve percent of the players, maybe 15 percent,” he said. “Why? Because it’s not an advantage. If it was an advantage, everybody would do it. It’s not easier. It’s different.

“You still have to work with it. You can still yip (an involuntary movement of the muscles) it, you can still hit horrible putts. You can do everything with it, just like with a short putter. So why change? Because it doesn’t look right?”

Broomhandle or belly putters, pioneered by 2002 European Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance among others in the late 1980s, are often tucked under the chin, against the chest or stomach.

They are swung in a pendulum fashion, helping to reduce the effects of nerves when lining up a putt.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Frank Pingue)

With the Kings on a five-on-three powerplay, captain Dustin Brown tied the score with a backhand shot at 18:17 in the third period to spark thunderous roars from a sellout crowd of 18,527 at Staples Center.

Just 22 seconds later, center Trevor Lewis pounced on a loose puck from the left side of an open net for the go-ahead goal and the Kings held on to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Goaltender Jonathan Quick, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player during last season’s playoffs, made 28 saves for Los Angeles, who have now won 12 straight games on home ice since March.

Antti Niemi stopped 27 shots for the Sharks, who will have to rebound when the series shifts to San Jose for Game Three on Saturday.

The Kings made a fast start when center Jeff Carter opened the scoring with a wrist shot from the right at 3:06 in the first period. It was his fourth playoff goal this season, and the 25th of his career in the playoffs.

Though the Sharks were initially much busier on offense, the Kings went 2-0 up when defenseman Drew Doughty scored on a powerplay with a slap shot into the upper-left corner at 4:10 in the second period.

However, San Jose cut the deficit when center Patrick Marleau scored with a tip-in on a powerplay a little more than five minutes later after a brilliant sequence of four-way passing.

The Sharks then stunned the Staples Center crowd into near silence by tying the game at 2-2 when defenseman Brad Stuart netted with a slap shot at 14:21 in the second period.

As the towel-waving home fans chanted “Go Kings Go”, San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic was credited with the goal that put the Sharks 3-2 up at 8:56 of the third, the puck having been deflected through a tangle of bodies.

The Sharks appeared to have the game under control but they paid a heavy price for two late penalties as first Stuart, for tripping, and then Vlasic, for delaying the game by sending the puck over the glass, were both sent to the penalty box.

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)

(Reuters) – Britain’s former world number two Colin Montgomerie repeatedly resisted the lure of the PGA Tour during his prime but now says he intends to compete full-time in the United States on the Champions Tour for players aged over 50.

The Scotsman, who won a record eight order of merit titles on the European Tour between 1993 and 2005, will be eligible for the senior circuit after his 50th birthday on June 23.

“I look forward now in many ways to starting a new life, a new chapter of my life to come over here now,” Montgomerie told reporters on Monday before he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida.

Montgomerie said he was often tempted at the idea of playing full-time in the United States and was even asked on numerous occasions by former PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman and current head Tim Finchem to come over.

“Family commitments kept me in Europe. I was very happy and comfortable at home, and my wife and children were in school. I felt there was no need at that stage to come over here,” said Montgomerie.

“I was number one in Europe. I was very happy in Europe and I was comfortable in that position, and therefore I stayed there. If it’s not bust, you don’t fix it, and that was why I really didn’t come over here.”

Montgomerie became one of the first British golfers to attend a U.S. college, earning a degree in business management at Houston Baptist University in May 1987 before he decided to embark on a career as a playing professional.

EUROPEAN HOME

However, he opted to leave the U.S. to play full-time on his home European Tour where he piled up 31 titles and clinched the order of merit crown for a record seven consecutive years from 1993-99.

“Seven in a row, that was something that I look back on and realize how special it was,” said Montgomerie, who also compiled a stellar record in the biennial Ryder Cup team competition where he never lost in eight singles matches.

“So I’m probably most proud of that. But I look back at my career and raising the Ryder Cup as captain in 2010, to regain the Ryder Cup from the victory that the States had in 2008, was a very proud moment.

“It’s funny because I never hit a golf shot that week. In terms of proud moments without hitting a ball, then it has to be raising the Ryder Cup.”

Known for his natural swing, an aversion to practice and a temperament that could be prickly at times, Montgomerie had one glaring omission from an otherwise glittering career resume – a failure to win a major title despite several close calls.

“I’ve enjoyed thoroughly my exploits in major championships,” said the 49-year-old Scot, who recorded five runner-up spots in the majors among a total of 10 top-10 finishes.

“I just haven’t been fortunate or whatever it takes, I’ve never, ever stood up and made a winner’s speech … I never will.

“But I look forward to the Seniors Tour and trying to win them (majors) there. Gary Player counts them as majors, doesn’t he?” Montgomerie added with a broad grin.

South African Player has won nine major titles on the regular PGA Tour, and a further nine in the senior events.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue)

In front of a packed house at Staples Center, the Stanley Cup champions were stunned by two early Blues goals in Monday’s Game Four and despite clawing their way back to 2-2, they again fell behind by the second intermission.

“Just win one period” was the team’s mantra as they huddled in their locker room before coming out for the final period and they delivered in style, Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams scoring 76 seconds apart to seal a 4-3 win for Los Angeles.

“There’s a lot of resilience in this room,” Kings left wing Dustin Penner told reporters after the fifth seeds leveled the playoff series at 2-2 with Game Five set for St. Louis on Wednesday and Game Six back in Los Angeles on Friday.

“The game has a funny way of making you question it, but we have a lot of resolve and obviously we draw on experiences from last year.”

Penner described how the Kings had set themselves small building blocks going into the final period in a bid to erase a 3-2 deficit after T.J. Oshie had scored his second goal of the night with a wrist shot to put the Blues in control.

“Just win one period,” Penner said. “We had tied one, lost one. If we could just win this period – small goals for ourselves – then that would lead into a big one.

“And get pucks to the net, get inside their D and create havoc for (St. Louis goaltender Brian) Elliott. The game tests you in different ways. We definitely earned this one.”

Game Four was surprisingly electrifying for the fans as it followed three low-scoring affairs highlighted by two of the best defenses in the league and a pair of outstanding goalies.

NEAR-IMPREGNABLE QUICK

Jonathan Quick, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy last season as the most valuable player in the playoffs, had looked near-impregnable for the Kings as he stopped 93 of 97 shots in the first three games. Elliott had impressively stopped 76 of 79.

On Monday, however, Quick was beaten twice in the first five minutes of play, a wide open David Backes scoring with a wrist shot after just 72 seconds and Oshie making it 2-0 for the fourth seeds with a tip-in during a power play after 4:32.

Panic was never likely to set in, though, for a Kings team that became the first eighth seed to win a Stanley Cup last year after upsetting the Western Conference’s top three seeds along the way.

“It’s not about morale on our team,” Kings head coach Darryl Sutter said. “It sounds repetitive, but this team has resilience. There was no faction, when it was 0-2, that it was ‘Throw it in’ or ‘What’s going on?’

“That’s not the way it works. And there was really nothing to build back. They scored a weak goal, then they scored a power-play goal. We got a big goal from Jeff (Carter) which makes it 2-1 and that’s pretty how much how the series has gone.

“Score was 4-3 coming in tonight in 10 periods and after three periods tonight it was 4-3 again … so you play 13 periods and it’s 7-7. That’s how close it is.”

The Kings have now won nine straight games at home for a 21-4-1 overall record at Staples Center this season, but they have lost eight in a row on the road, including the first two games of this series.

“We are going back home,” smiled St. Louis defenseman Jay Bouwmeester. “We are in a good position still. You just have to approach it like it’s a three-game series now.

“We just have to get back to doing the things that made us successful. We have to get back to skating and getting on the fore-check. This time of the year it’s real close. You don’t have to change a lot but sometimes it makes a big difference.”

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Frank Pingue)

The inspirational Quick made 30 saves to complete the fifth playoff shutout of his career and lead the Stanley Cup champions to a gritty 1-0 win in Saturday’s Game Three of the National Hockey League playoffs that followed successive losses in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.

Though Quick was lavishly praised by his team mates for his stellar form in front of a sellout home crowd at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, the goaltender played down his influential role in typically laid-back fashion.

“There is still room for improvement so we are going to continue doing that, get better and go to work in (Monday’s) Game Four,” Quick, 27, told Reuters when asked if he had been happy with his own performance.

“We were never out of it, we just won a game. We did what we had to do to win a game. Everybody worked hard.

“It’s what you expect when these two teams play each other. They were just throwing pucks from everywhere, but we handled it well and cleaned up most of the rebounds.”

The only goal of the night came from Kings defenseman Slava Voynov, who scored from the right circle in the second period after a lengthy scramble in front of St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott’s net.

Both goaltenders had to dig deep in the face of wave after wave of attack as each team earned four power plays during another hard-hitting and tense encounter.

TAKING THE BLAME

Quick, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy last season as the most valuable player in the playoffs, has so far stopped 93 of 97 shots in this series, and none of his team mates accepts he should have taken the blame for the losses in Games One and Two.

“Obviously that’s inane for him to say any of those losses are on him,” said right wing Justin Williams, who saved the fifth-seeded Kings with about five minutes left on Saturday after diving full-length to knock a loose puck out of the slot.

“But that’s who you want as a goaltender – a goaltender who’s going to battle for you. A guy who wants to stop every puck that comes toward him. That’s what he does.

“In this series we’ll need him to be at his best because goals are going to be at a premium. The story for us (in Game Three) was Jonathan Quick. That’s the difference for us.”

Kings captain Dustin Brown agreed fulsomely, saying: “Quickie had to be really good for us, but the way he played is no surprise to anybody. We need to clean up our D-zone. They had a lot of opportunities.”

St. Louis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock accepts the fourth seeds will have to do a better offensive job against Quick on Monday at Staples Center.

“We just have to come back and find a way to out-work the goalie,” Hitchcock said. “I thought we did a lot of good things, we created a lot of turnovers but we didn’t sustain the pressure.

“There is not much difference between the two teams. Both goalies are on top of their game. Our guy (Elliott) was great again tonight, their guy was a little bit better.”

Armed with reflexes to match his surname, Quick helped his team win their first Stanley Cup last year with a series of brilliant postseason performances, allowing just seven goals in the best-of-seven finals against the New Jersey Devils.

By his own lofty standards, Quick was frustrated by his initial form against the Blues in this postseason, mishandling the puck behind the net in overtime for a 2-1 loss in Game One and allowing a last-minute goal in Game Two for another 2-1 defeat.

“I’ve got to stop that,” Quick said before Game Three. “It’s my fault two games in a row. I’ve got to be better.”

Asked if he was perhaps too much of a perfectionist, Quick told Reuters with a dead-pan expression: “No. No. You just want to win. That’s all.”

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Gene Cherry)

Above all, Watson wants his players to have a ‘never-say-die’ attitude, the ability to thrive under pressure and also to cope well in adverse weather conditions.

“Basically, it comes down to three things and these three things should come as no surprise,” Watson wrote in the first installment of his captain’s blog, posted on Friday on the official Ryder Cup website (www.rydercup.com).

“1. I’m looking at players who have a lot of heart. 2. I’m looking at a player who can hold or even increase his lead under pressure.

“3. I’m looking for a player who can play well in bad conditions. That last one should be obvious, because those are likely to be the type of conditions we’ll face in Scotland.”

Nine players will automatically qualify via the U.S. points standings for the September 26-28 matches at Gleneagles and Watson will then round out his team with three wildcard picks, to be announced earlier that month.

LAYING GROUNDWORK

Though the U.S. points system is barely underway, Watson says he has already spent a great deal of time over the last few months laying the foundation to his Ryder Cup preparations.

“Several processes have been put in place,” added Watson, who will be 65 when the matches are played at Gleneagles in Scotland, making him the oldest captain in Ryder Cup history.

“While I haven’t made any final decisions, I’ve given a lot of thought to the people I’ll use as assistant captains, caddie liaisons and other people I’ll entrust with the workings of the Ryder Cup. The process is ongoing.

“I’m formulating a list of names and asking questions about certain people privately. That goes part and parcel with getting to know the players and their abilities better. It’s an observational process that I’ll be going through with help from others.”

Watson, who led the U.S. to victory in 1993 in his previous stint as Ryder Cup captain, said he was thirsty for as much inside information as possible on his likely players at Gleneagles.

“That’s the process,” he said. “That’s what I’m going through. This is a different way of being involved with golf than what I’ve been used to for many years.

“Now, I’m actively involved in paying attention to the outcome at tournaments for players other than myself.”

A winner of eight majors, including five British Opens, Watson is the seventh man to be named U.S. captain on more than one occasion. The last was Jack Nicklaus in 1987.

Americans are hoping the appointment of Watson will end a run of seven losses against Europe in the last nine editions of the biennial competition.

Their most recent defeat came in Chicago last year when the U.S. threw away a commanding four-point lead heading into the final day in what became known as the ‘Meltdown at Medinah.’

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Frank Pingue)

Above all, Watson wants his players to have a ‘never-say-die’ attitude, the ability to thrive under pressure and also to cope well in adverse weather conditions.

“Basically, it comes down to three things and these three things should come as no surprise,” Watson wrote in the first installment of his captain’s blog, posted on Friday on the official Ryder Cup website (www.rydercup.com).

“1. I’m looking at players who have a lot of heart. 2. I’m looking at a player who can hold or even increase his lead under pressure.

“3. I’m looking for a player who can play well in bad conditions. That last one should be obvious, because those are likely to be the type of conditions we’ll face in Scotland.”

Nine players will automatically qualify via the U.S. points standings for the September 26-28 matches at Gleneagles and Watson will then round out his team with three wildcard picks, to be announced earlier that month.

LAYING GROUNDWORK

Though the U.S. points system is barely underway, Watson says he has already spent a great deal of time over the last few months laying the foundation to his Ryder Cup preparations.

“Several processes have been put in place,” added Watson, who will be 65 when the matches are played at Gleneagles in Scotland, making him the oldest captain in Ryder Cup history.

“While I haven’t made any final decisions, I’ve given a lot of thought to the people I’ll use as assistant captains, caddie liaisons and other people I’ll entrust with the workings of the Ryder Cup. The process is ongoing.

“I’m formulating a list of names and asking questions about certain people privately. That goes part and parcel with getting to know the players and their abilities better. It’s an observational process that I’ll be going through with help from others.”

Watson, who led the U.S. to victory in 1993 in his previous stint as Ryder Cup captain, said he was thirsty for as much inside information as possible on his likely players at Gleneagles.

“That’s the process,” he said. “That’s what I’m going through. This is a different way of being involved with golf than what I’ve been used to for many years.

“Now, I’m actively involved in paying attention to the outcome at tournaments for players other than myself.”

A winner of eight majors, including five British Opens, Watson is the seventh man to be named U.S. captain on more than one occasion. The last was Jack Nicklaus in 1987.

Americans are hoping the appointment of Watson will end a run of seven losses against Europe in the last nine editions of the biennial competition.

Their most recent defeat came in Chicago last year when the U.S. threw away a commanding four-point lead heading into the final day in what became known as the ‘Meltdown at Medinah.’ (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Frank Pingue)

Above all, Watson wants his players to have a ‘never-say-die’ attitude, the ability to thrive under pressure and also to cope well in adverse weather conditions.

“Basically, it comes down to three things and these three things should come as no surprise,” Watson wrote in the first installment of his captain’s blog, posted on Friday on the official Ryder Cup website (www.rydercup.com).

“1. I’m looking at players who have a lot of heart. 2. I’m looking at a player who can hold or even increase his lead under pressure.

“3. I’m looking for a player who can play well in bad conditions. That last one should be obvious, because those are likely to be the type of conditions we’ll face in Scotland.”

Nine players will automatically qualify via the U.S. points standings for the September 26-28 matches at Gleneagles and Watson will then round out his team with three wildcard picks, to be announced earlier that month.

LAYING GROUNDWORK

Though the U.S. points system is barely underway, Watson says he has already spent a great deal of time over the last few months laying the foundation to his Ryder Cup preparations.

“Several processes have been put in place,” added Watson, who will be 65 when the matches are played at Gleneagles in Scotland, making him the oldest captain in Ryder Cup history.

“While I haven’t made any final decisions, I’ve given a lot of thought to the people I’ll use as assistant captains, caddie liaisons and other people I’ll entrust with the workings of the Ryder Cup. The process is ongoing.

“I’m formulating a list of names and asking questions about certain people privately. That goes part and parcel with getting to know the players and their abilities better. It’s an observational process that I’ll be going through with help from others.”

Watson, who led the U.S. to victory in 1993 in his previous stint as Ryder Cup captain, said he was thirsty for as much inside information as possible on his likely players at Gleneagles.

“That’s the process,” he said. “That’s what I’m going through. This is a different way of being involved with golf than what I’ve been used to for many years.

“Now, I’m actively involved in paying attention to the outcome at tournaments for players other than myself.”

A winner of eight majors, including five British Opens, Watson is the seventh man to be named U.S. captain on more than one occasion. The last was Jack Nicklaus in 1987.

Americans are hoping the appointment of Watson will end a run of seven losses against Europe in the last nine editions of the biennial competition.

Their most recent defeat came in Chicago last year when the U.S. threw away a commanding four-point lead heading into the final day in what became known as the ‘Meltdown at Medinah.’ (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Frank Pingue)