Lanny Wadkins got everything he could ask for in grooming Oak Hill Country Club for the Ryder Cup.
He wanted thick, gnarly rough and firm, fast greens that are typical of the U.S. Open, which a European hasn't won in the past 25 years. He even asked for new sand in all the bunkers.What the U.S. team captain has no control over is the weather.
Under very European conditions - gray skies, the threat of showers and temperatures expected to fall into the 50s - the 31st Ryder Cup opened today when Colin Montgomerie laced a 3-wood down the middle to begin the alternate-ball matches.
With the greens playing soft, Corey Pavin stuck an iron to within 10 feet and Tom Lehman curled in the birdie putt to go 1-up over Montgomerie and Nick Faldo.
"The dampness on the course has slowed the greens up," European captain Bernard Gallacher said Thursday with a tinge of delight. "We're not unhappy with the conditions, put it that way."
Added England's David Gilford with a soft smile: "There's a slight advantage to be on your home course, but that doesn't guarantee good weather."
Wadkins conceded that wet, cool weather could lead to more conservative play in the morning's opening round of four alternate-ball matches. But he bristled at any inference that the conditions would be more to the Europeans' liking.
"That makes no difference," he said. "It's out there in front of you. Just go play it. One thing that these guys probably figured out early on in their career is the weather conditions, they really don't have a lot of control over it."
While a wet course would soften and slow the greens, it also would make the 6,902-yard layout of Oak Hill play to its fullest.
In making his pairings for this morning's foursome matches, Wadkins paired long hitters like Fred Couples with good iron players like Jay Haas.
The four players he kept out of the opening round were expected - Ryder Cup rookies Phil Mickelson, Brad Faxon and Loren Roberts, as well as Peter Jacobsen, who made his last Ryder Cup appearance in 1985.
The surprises were furnished by Gallacher, who kept Seve Ballesteros out of the first-round match for the first time in the Spaniard's brilliant Ryder Cup career, which includes a 10-3-1 record in foursome matches.
"The captain has to play the people he thinks are in the best form," Ballesteros said Thursday. "That's all I have to say."
Ballesteros had his greatest success with Jose Maria Olazabal, who has an injured foot and was replaced on the team by Ian Woosnam.
Woosnam is making his seventh Ryder Cup appearance, but he'll be watching the opening round, too. Gallacher opted to bench Woosnam in favor of Ryder rookie Per-Ulrik Johansson of Sweden, who was paired with Bernhard Langer against Curtis Strange and Ben Crenshaw.
"Woosnam will be like Seve," Gallacher said. "He'll play an important match at the right moment."
While some U.S. players were surprised to learn that Ballesteros would not be playing in the first round, Wadkins wouldn't get involved in speculating what was behind the move.
"All I can do is get my guys ready to play as best as possible," Wadkins said. "If these guys go out and play like they should play, then I'm happy."
He spoke with a confidence that belies the nerves sure to be tested, especially on a team with more to lose than it has to win, and with players who have not played exceptionally well since the U.S. Open. Four of them haven't won a tournament in two years.
Wadkins described them as happy, "wound up just perfect," and playing the best golf of their careers.
"I don't have anybody out of 12 people approaching even playing mediocre right now," he said.