Watson a serious candidate for U.S. Ryder Cup team

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Watson's worst finish this season on the Champions Tour was a T12 at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.

In Corey Pavin's playbook, silence is golden.

Pavin, captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, believes some things don't need to be said. They just are.

The subject is Tom Watson. The discussion is whether Watson has a shot at sporting the red, white and blue of the United States as a member of Pavin's cup holders who will travel to Celtic Manor in Wales to take on Europe later this year.

Watson, who will celebrate his 61st birthday 23 days before the 2010 Ryder Cup begins in September, will make history if he makes the team. The only way he'll do that is to be selected by Pavin as one of his four captain's pick. Eight golfers will automatically qualify on points.

"Tom is a pretty smart guy and he knows that I'm thinking about him without me even saying anything or that he's on my list," Pavin said. "So it's nothing that has to be spoken. He knows."

It doesn't take a champion debater to make a case for Watson.

A five-time winner of the British Open -- and nearly a sixth last summer at Turnberry -- Watson is unmatched for his excellence across the Atlantic Ocean. He is beloved over there. That can be important if Pavin intends to borrow from Bernhard Langer's 2004 game plan when the European captain usurped America's home course advantage by having his players endear themselves to the galleries at Oakland Hills Country Club.

Watson doesn't have to endear himself. He is entrenched as a people's champion everywhere he goes. He doesn't have to prove himself, either. He's done that every time he's teed it up in big events, whether it's on the Champions Tour or the PGA TOUR. This week, he will play in the Senior PGA Championship. A few weeks down the road, it's a return to the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links, where Watson won in 1982.

But don't think for a moment Watson's role, if there is to be one, will be ceremonial. Name one potential member of the European team that he didn't beat at Turnberry last year. At this year's Masters, only three European stars, all Ryder Cup mainstays, finished ahead of Watson (T-18). They were Lee Westwood (2nd), Ian Poulter (T-4) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (T-12).

"I'm looking at everybody," Pavin said recently. "Just because there are guys on the Champions Tour, it doesn't preclude them from my list. Obviously Freddie (Couples) is playing very well, and Tom has played very nicely ... There's nobody that's not on my list right now. I haven't scratched a single name off, and those guys I'm definitely looking at.

"We'll just have to wait and see how they play and how everybody else plays and who the eight are that qualify after the PGA Championship, as well."

Watson has represented the U.S. at the Ryder Cup four times (1977, 1981, 1983, 1989) and was captain of the winning team in 1993 at The Belfry. He has a 10-4-1 career record. Couples has played in five Ryder Cups with a 7-9-4 record.

Watson is flattered by the suggestion that he could be a viable candidate to earn a spot on the team, but he doesn't buy into the notion that somehow he'll be a crowd favorite at the Twenty Ten Course in Wales.

"You can throw that affection out," Watson said. "This becomes a partisan match. I don't care how much they love you, if you're from America and you're playing their guy, they're going to pick the guy from Europe every time.

"I'm honored that (Pavin) might have said that. The bottom line is the golf course. I've never played the golf course before. That's where the Europeans have out-smarted us. They take their Ryder Cups where their pros play on a yearly basis. Over here, we take them to golf courses where that's rarely the case."

Watson pointed to his history at Turnberry as a key to nearly pulling off the improbable last summer at the British Open.

"Course knowledge is a big, big deal," he said. "At Turnberry I had an advantage. It was the sixth major championship I've played there. Most of the kids, it was the first time. It came to pass on holes like eight, 15 and 16. Those holes ate some guys' lunch.

"I knew how to play them after struggling with those holes early-on in my career and finally figured out you've got to play it this way. I knew how to play them. That course knowledge is a big deal and it's the same thing with the Ryder Cup matches."

There is so much more to having Tom Watson on a Ryder Cup squad. Which of his American teammates, young or old, wouldn't cherish the opportunity to tee it up alongside a legend in a best-ball or foursomes match?

For the Europeans matched against Watson, the emotions would be far different. It would be a no-win proposition, especially in singles. The European would be expected to win but, of course, it would be no easy chore. The pressure on the European golfer in that case would be enormous. No?

The possibilities are endless and delicious. But Corey Pavin, like Tom Watson, is a smart guy. Pavin doesn't need to be told. He knows without anybody saying a word to him.

Champions Tour Insider note

• Fuzzy Zoeller's Ultra Premium Vodka sponsored race car with Ed Carpenter behind the wheel has qualified for Sunday's Indianapolis 500.

• The Senior PGA Championship field includes 21 players who have won majors on the PGA TOUR and 25 with Champions Tour majors.

• Mark Carnevale, the 1992 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, will make his Champions Tour debut this week at Colorado Golf Club. Carnevale won the 1992 Chattanooga Classic for his only PGA TOUR win.

Champions Tour Insider Vartan Kupelian is a freelance contributor for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.