The Odd Couple

Still, there is little doubt the pair will bring their old intensity to Valhalla. Azinger has been the more outwardly proactive captain, lobbying to change the number of captain's picks from two to four, and the points system so that each week the top-10 Americans are rewarded. Tournament wins have also been given greater weight, all for the purpose of bringing the hottest players to Valhalla. "We've averaged six players each of the last five Ryder Cups who had not won a tournament that year," he says. (The Europeans averaged about four players who had not won a tournament that year.)

If the Americans win in September, "I think my legacy will be that I was the guy who changed the way the team was picked," says Azinger. "Most of all, I want the players years from now to say the best memories they have of the Ryder Cup are from the one where Zinger was the captain."

Faldo's captaincy has had its share of bumps. Along with the contretemps with Montgomerie, Paul McGinley resigned as an assistant captain four months after he had accepted the position. McGinley said he wanted to earn his way onto the team, but there was speculation he was miffed that Faldo did not choose a player from Ireland when that country was the site for last year's Seve Trophy matches. Otherwise, Faldo has kept his strategy secret and been nearly as distant in communicating with his prospective players. "What I've said to them is, 'You talk to me. If you want anything from me, you call me,' " Faldo said at the Masters. " 'I am very accessible. I am not going to go down the line or start calling guys, asking, "What do you need?" . . . If you want me, you call me.' If I don't hear from them, I'm happy."

Of course, Faldo will almost surely hear from Azinger, either through the media or personally. He doesn't mind.

"For that week, and for those three days, it will be intense, but I think it's very important we have good camaraderie and good fun doing it," says Faldo. "There will be a few digs. The ones that go below the belt might get a bit of an ouch. Or something."

Perhaps Faldo has decided that the something is better than the nothing that is his norm. The irony of Valhalla is that the man Faldo will be closest to among all the participants will be Paul Azinger.

Captain vs Captain

Key Ryder Cup playing results for captains Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger (asterisk denotes all-time record)

Wins, losses and controversies

Faldo and Azinger have had several notable showdowns. Faldo memorably made 18 consecutive pars in the final round of the 1987 British Open to beat Azinger by one stroke after Azinger bogeyed the final two holes, and in 1993 Azinger overcame Faldo and Greg Norman to win the PGA Championship. Here, some selected highlights from their Ryder Cup careers:

1977 / Royal Lytham & St. Annes
At age 20, Faldo goes 3-0-0 competing in the first of his 11 Ryder Cups as a player.

1979 / The Greenbrier
Faldo gets three points in a 17-11 loss, the last defeat for Great Britain & Ireland before the rest of Europe becomes part of the Ryder Cup.

1981 / Walton Heath
Faldo beats Johnny Miller, 2 and 1, for his only point.

1983 / PGA National
Faldo teams with Bernhard Langer to win three of four matches and is 4-1-0 overall, but Europe loses, 14½-13½.

1985 / The Belfry
Faldo is winless in two matches, but the United States loses the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1957.

1987 / Muirfield Village
Faldo is 3-1-1, and the United States loses a Ryder Cup at home for the first time.

1989 / The Belfry
Azinger, playing with Chip Beck in a 2-and-1 four-ball victory over Faldo and Ian Woosnam, notices Faldo paying attention to Beck's putting line and announces, "I'll read my partner's putts, if you don't mind."

In Sunday's singles, Seve Ballesteros asks Azinger if he can replace a scuffed ball but is rebuffed. "Is this the way you want to play today?" says Seve, who later remains silent when Azinger stands over a two-footer at the 13th hole and asks, "Is that good?"

Azinger is 1 up when he drives into water at the 18th, and Ballesteros disputes the drop he is given. Both make bogeys. That was good enough for Azinger to win the singles match, though when the teams tie, 14-14, as the defending champion, Europe retains the Cup.

1991 / Ocean Course, Kiawah Island
On the 10th tee of a Friday foursomes match that Azinger has said featured "one bit of controversy after another" that left him "livid"--though the U.S. team led, 3 up--Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal point out that Azinger and Beck had mixed up the use of 90- and 100-compression balls in their foursomes match:

"I can tell you, we're not trying to cheat," Azinger says.

"Oh, no, no. Breaking the rules and cheating are two different things," Ballesteros responds before he and Olazabal rally to win, 2 and 1.

That isn't it for the sniping. Says Seve:

"The American team has 11 nice guys . . . and Paul Azinger."

Azinger, who once called Ballesteros "the king of gamesmanship," adds: "Seve always develops a cough at the Ryder Cup."

1993 / The Belfry
Faldo makes an ace against Azinger with a 6-iron from 186 yards at the 14th hole during Sunday's singles, though Azinger birdies the next hole and the 18th to halve their match. Davis Love III, who makes a six-foot par putt on the 18th to beat Costantino Rocca for a crucial point, says the huge roars from the gallery after Faldo's ace caused Rocca to back away from his tee shot on the 18th hole. Says Love: "It may have been the only time in Ryder Cup history that a hole-in-one actually hurt the team that made it."

1995 / Oak Hill
Faldo's 1-up victory over Curtis Strange with a 93-yard wedge shot to four feet to save par at the 18th is a crusher for the Americans in a 14½-13½ loss. Azinger has this to say about Faldo's slow play during the matches: "They ought to invoke the same-day rule."

1997 / Valderrama
In his last Ryder Cup as a player, Faldo goes 2-3-0, but Europe wins again.

2002 / The Belfry
Azinger, 1 down to Niclas Fasth playing the 18th hole, holes a bunker shot to halve his match and keep the U.S. alive before Europe pulls away. "No one remembers that 10- or 12-footer I made on 17, or it was over right there," Azinger says. "The whole European team is on the green on 17 ready to pop the cork. But I made the putt to keep it alive. And then 18. . . . I said to my caddie, 'I have to make this, don't I?' And he didn't even say anything. And the last thing I said before I hit the shot was, 'Well, of course I do.' And then I made it."

Azinger, who holed a similar greenside bunker shot on the 72nd hole to defeat Corey Pavin and Payne Stewart in the 1993 Memorial Tournament, added this: "Really, if we had won those matches, where would that shot be in the history?"