Q.           Can we ask your reaction to the European vice captains being named; are you surprised?

                COREY PAVIN:  No, they are great picks.  There are a lot of choices that Colin had, and I think that the three that he picked were very good obviously, and you know, he has his reasons to pick who he did, and you know, from outside looking in, which is what I'm doing, I think they are very good selections.

            Q.  Atmosphere is very important, as you're probably working on the same yourself, isn't it?

                COREY PAVIN:  Yeah, I had my reasons for picking my assistants and I'm sure Colin has his.  I think they are all excellent choices, and like I said, there was plenty to choose from, but you know, I think they are excellent, excellent people to have out there helping.

            Q.  How much of a role do they have during the week?  You were vice captain.  How busy were you?

                COREY PAVIN:  I think it depends on the captain and what he's asking.  For me, you know, I'll be asking a lot of advice from my assistant captains for my captain's picks and for pairings.

                During the week it's very important, I think, for the assistants to take a load off of me, just to make sure the guys are wearing the right clothes, to make sure they have food and drink and everything is taken care of, just a lot of the little things, and some big things, too.  There's going to be some conversation between assistant captains and players, and that's going to be important.  Certainly not during the matches themselves but during practise rounds and practise and during the evenings is very important, as well.

            Q.  Just to let players play and let players play and take care of the rest, basically?

                COREY PAVIN:  My main focus is to make sure everything is prepared for the players and they have nothing to worry about but play golf and focus on trying to win some matches.

            Q.  Would you say it's a question of the captain plays the overview and the assistants are to deal with the minutia that the captains don't have time ‑‑

                COREY PAVIN:  I think that is an important aspect.  You know, it's still, for me, I have to make sure that the assistants are aware of those things and do it them, but you can't manage everything.  There's too many things to manage as a captain, and that's why I chose my assistants because I knew they were very capable of doing anything that I asked them to do and doing things that I don't ask them to do that they see need to be done.

            Q.  Colin Montgomerie has named his vice captains, three of them, and they are some experienced men he's brought in.

                COREY PAVIN:  Yeah, I think they are excellent choices.  I'm sure he had a lot on his list, many people on his list and he narrowed it down to three excellent choices.  There are more he could have chosen but they are three excellent choices and they will do an excellent job.

            Q.  He's gone for three vice captains, you have four assistants.  Any particular reason why you went for four?

                COREY PAVIN:  Colin must be quite a bit smarter to only have three.  I'm not quite as smart.  Each of us are going to do what we think is best, and I picked four because I wanted to have an assistant captain walking with each group in the four matches the first two days and to keep an eye on things.  That's just my choice and obviously Colin felt three was enough and that's why he did that.

            Q.  The Open Championship was a good one from a European point of view, there are a lot of Ryder Cup players who did well, and looking at the World Rankings now, there are nine Europeans in that world top 20, only six Americans, and it's a long time since we have been able to say that?

                COREY PAVIN:  Yeah, I think it's all good for golf in general and it will make The Ryder Cup even more interesting.  I think we have got four of the top 5, but as you said, you've got nine of the top 20, and you know, if you played it on paper, it would be interesting, as well, but we don't play it on paper and it doesn't seem to matter where the rankings are and what's happening, the matches are always close and competitive, and it's going to be amazing to watch and see what happens even from a captain's point of view, I'm going to be doing a lot of watching, as well.  I'll have a little more control maybe than some other people, but once the guys tee off it's up to them and to see what happens.

                Hopefully the matches will be close, they will be interesting, and you know, obviously you know what side I'm cheering for, but we'll see what happens.

                        Q.  Lastly as things stand at the moment, and we have still got three months to go or 2 1/2 months, are you in good spirits and things are going along as you would have hoped?

                COREY PAVIN:  I feel fine.  The team is forming.  We still have a few more events before the eight players are going to qualify on points for the U.S. side, and we'll see who those eight are and then we will go from there for the four picks and that will certainly influence who I pick.