HARRISON, N.Y. -- Seems like there’s always another phone call to answer, or another decision to make. Not to mention, all those interview requests.

Such is the life of Tom Lehman, circa 2006, barely three months away from the start of the Ryder Cup.

The United States captain wouldn’t trade the honor for the world. But Lehman, the man who once talked about making his own team to play in Ireland in September, hasn’t had much time to focus on his own game of late.

Not that it showed on Thursday in the first round of the Barclays Classic, though. He played his first 15 holes at Westchester Country Club in 6-under par before finishing with a 68 that left him three strokes off the lead held by Adam Scott.

The three closing bogeys admittedly were frustrating, but Lehman isn’t letting three bad holes take away from his overall performance.

“I played really well for really most of the day,” Lehman said. “The last few holes coming in were a bit of a disappointment, obviously. It's easy to dwell on the negatives. It would have been nice to finish that round off because I was playing so well, 6-under through 15 holes, and then the three straight bogeys hurts.

“I did a lot of things right today, though. I haven't played much the last couple of weeks, been home, and (it’s) just nice to get off to a good start, and 3 under is a good start here.”

The 68 matched Lehman’s lowest score since a run of consecutive seventh places in February fueled talk of Lehman being a playing captain at the K Club. That speculation intensified when he finished fourth the following week at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and moved to 10th in the Ryder Cup standings.

Lehman hasn’t cracked the top 20 in the six tournaments he’s played since, though, and he’s dropped to 19th in the U.S. standings. Of course, Captain America is only 188.958 points out of the 10th spot which marks the final automatic qualifier.

For the record, 375 points will be awarded to the Barclays Classic winner on Sunday while the runner-up gets 180, so ground can be made up quickly. Lehman is hardly one to get the cart ahead of the horse, though.

“The season is getting busier by the day, which is understandable,” Lehman had said on Wednesday. “My game has kind of taken a back seat it seems. Earlier in the season it was a little bit easier to be more focused on my own game, but it's getting more difficult as time goes by. I'm working hard and hopefully I'll play well. I've got a great week this week and next week, but the exciting stuff is kind of right here in front of me.”

Lehman said that much of the focus he used to invest into his own game is now being put into preparations for the Ryder Cup. He ponders pairings. He talks with his assistant captains Loren Roberts and Corey Pavin. He sweats the small stuff.

“If I was preparing for a U.S. Open, I would be so focused, I'd think of the U.S. Open for weeks and weeks ahead of time, and that's simply not possible,” Lehman said. “Obviously the mental game of golf is everything, so I feel somewhat unprepared most weeks now. Physically I'm swinging pretty well.”

Just how well was evident from the outset on this damp, overcast Thursday in this New York suburb. Lehman started on Westchester’s back nine and promptly rolled in a 5-footer for birdie on the 10th hole.

His birdies at the 13th and 16th holes came from 4 and 9 feet, respectively, and he two-putted the par-5 18th from 46 feet for another to turn in 31. Lehman rolled in birdie putts of 21 and 28 feet on the front nine before he began to give strokes back.

Despite Tom Lehman's three consecutive bogeys Thursday, he carded a 3-under 68 for the first round.

The three closing bogeys aggravated Lehman, but he understood why they happened. He hit his approach long on the seventh and short, right on the ninth. Although he hit the green in regulation on No. 8, Lehman came up well short and three-putted from 59 feet.

“I feel like I’m not quite as sure about how far I’m going to hit it,” he said, adding that calculating the spin on the wet greens exacerbated the problem.

“I had a couple of shots to back pins where I was worried about hitting it long. I wasn’t really sure of the club I had in my hand and ended up making a very uncommitted swing two holes in a row. You don’t make those mistakes when you’re totally tuned in.”

Still, after his first nine holes, Lehman said he “felt like I was clicking” – not unlike he was earlier in the year. Now that he’s gotten back into the flow of competition, Lehman hopes to eliminate the mistakes he made late in his round and see what happens the rest of the week.

“That is nice,” Lehman said when asked about the switch from captain to player. “To get off to a 3-under start, if you would have told me on the first tee I was going to shoot that, I would have been happy.”