These Ryder Cup Players Call Old Kentucky Home

LOUISVILLE, Sept. 16 -- Ryder Cup team captains are noted for the lengths they will go in order to avoid revealing their pairings for the opening matches until the last possible moment. But on Tuesday, U.S. Captain Paul Azinger strongly hinted that he likely will start the 2008 matches at Valhalla Golf Club by pairing his team's two native Kentuckians in the first group Friday in alternate-shot competition.

Kenny Perry, a 48-year-old tour veteran who grew up in Franklin and played college golf at Western Kentucky, and J.B. Holmes, a 26-year-old native of Campbellsville who played for the University of Kentucky, drew large crowds Tuesday while playing in a foursome with Boo Weekley and Jim Furyk. Azinger is intrigued by having them play together from the start.

"Yeah, I've thought about what I'm going to do with those two guys, should I put them together, should I keep them apart?" Azinger said. "You know, I'd like to put them off first match out, to be honest with you, and get this crowd rocking."

Holmes, considered to be the game's longest hitter, offered a preview when he came to Valhalla's island green 13th hole, a 352-yard par 4 that could be shortened to 260 from 280 yards during the competition.

"The tee is all the way back on 13 and I believe the hole is 328 to 330 yards to the front of the green," Azinger said. "And J.B. Holmes flew it right on the green [to within 15 feet of the cup], and the crowd went absolutely crazy. That was just kind of a dose of what we could be in for, and I look forward to it."

So would Perry, who said he has lobbied Azinger to make the all-Kentucky pairing and will continue to make his case over the next two days.

"I've kind of pushed for it all year," Perry said. "I thought it would be special for two Kentuckians to lead the charge out here to try to win the Cup back. I guess it could backfire if we don't play well and they kick us pretty bad. It could also have a reverse role, too. I just think with the energy and the excitement, it's going to put a lot of pressure on the Europeans, and I just think [Holmes] is playing awesome. I just can't believe where he hit some of those drives today. He makes a lot of birdies, he's a great match-play player. If I can just calm him down a little bit, I think we would be a tough team to beat."

Holmes said he also would love to kick-start the U.S. team in the alternate-shot format, in which two players team to play one ball, alternating shots until the hole is won.

"It's definitely Paul's decision," said Holmes, playing in his first Ryder Cup as one of Azinger's four captain's choice selections. "It would be great to start it off with a bang. That would be awesome."

Thousands followed Perry and Holmes as they made their way around Valhalla, a 7,500-yard course originally built and then recently tweaked by Jack Nicklaus for this 37th Ryder Cup competition. Europe has won the event the last three times and five of the last six. The Americans last won in 1999 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., after the greatest Sunday comeback in Cup history.

Furyk had an inside-the-ropes seat Tuesday to watch the partisan Kentucky crowd react to Holmes and Perry, and he said afterward he was impressed with the way the players handled the attention.

"Kenny was running for office today," Furyk said. "I mean, votes aren't coming until November, but he was pressing some palms out there today. He was worried a lot more about making sure the fans saw him and were happy. He says, 'Man, you sign a hundred autographs, there's a hundred and one people and now one person thinks you're terrible. I just can't live that way.'

"Kenny is so nice and worried about everyone else. He's running up to the tees and grabbing his driver and swinging real quick and then running down the fairway. That can also be a negative. You can just try too hard to make everyone happy. But it probably can't get any better than playing in your home state in front of your home crowd and in a Ryder Cup."

Perry insisted that once the matches begin, he will be able to focus on the task at hand and worry more about winning matches than autograph seekers. He spent two days playing Valhalla last week, plotting his strategy, pondering course management issues and learning some of the nuances of the course. He said he knew he would be distracted during the official practice rounds.

"I knew what it was going to be like," he said. "I needed to get my work done last week so I didn't feel like I could push the crowd away today. I wanted to embrace the crowd. I was just having a good time. I've already done my homework on the golf course. I know how I want to play each hole."

Still, pairing Perry and Holmes would not be without risk. Remember Hal Sutton's Dream Team of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson the first day of the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills outside Detroit in 2004? They lost both matches, giving Europe a huge boost of confidence on its way to a record-setting rout.

European stalwart Lee Westwood, who teamed with Darren Clarke that afternoon to beat Woods and Mickelson, 1 up, in alternate shot, said Tuesday he would not be surprised if Azinger opened with Perry and Holmes in the first match.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," he said. "It's a match that America wants to see, I suppose, a bit like Phil and Tiger in Detroit. It can go one of a couple of ways. It can be very successful and get the crowd on your side, or it can go the way it did in Detroit. That's the chances that captains take, I suppose."