Ryder Cup Betting / Ralph Ellis / 08 September 2010 /

Ralph Ellis tells us how Corey Pavin has handled the selection of Tiger Woods in the best possible way, whilst all is not well in the European camp....

There's a delicate art in handling world class sportsmen. You have to recognise their unique talent, which almost always comes with a delicate ego, and make them feel special. And at the same time you have to let everybody else see they are just a part of the team.

Fabio Capello got it perfectly right with Wayne Rooney in Basel last night. At the same time, on the other side of the world, Corey Pavin struck the same perfect balance with Tiger Woods.

Successive American Cup captains have failed miserably when it came to integrating Tiger into their team. They've either refused him special privileges, like Tom Kite did on his debut in 1997 when he refused to let his father Earl be part of the ceremonial occasions while the older players all had their wives included. Or they've made such a fuss of his talent and standing as the game's greatest player they've put everybody else's nose out of joint.

Pavin was always going to pick Tiger for Celtic Manor, especially as he's showing signs of quietly returning to form. But he very carefully announced him as the third of his four wild cards, sending out the subliminal message that Woods will still have to justify his place in the team.

America's side with five rookies - including the surprise pick of 21-year-old rising talent Rickie Fowler - remain the outsiders at [2.78]. (That's good news if you followed my suggestion to back them at [3.1] at the start of August). They remain good value at that, especially as Pavin is clearly developing as a shrewd captain.

Fowler is very heavily tipped as the next Tiger. His long hair and Californian good looks are already being marketed to give golf a younger, fresher image in the States where it's always been a Country Club sport. And after spending a record 36 weeks as world number one amateur when he was still only a teenager he has had a really strong rookie year on the PGA tour. He was also the star of the American team that won the Walker Cup a year ago. Be warned!

Woods is inevitably installed as [6.4] favourite in the early market to be the Ryder Cup's top scorer, with Rory McIlroy leading the European contenders at [8.0]. Lee Westwood is next at [9.0], but that's a dangerous bet because there are still doubts about exactly how fit he'll be by then. Westwood is not expected to play a competitive game before he gets to Celtic Manor, and it would be a big ask to then walk 36 holes of a hilly course for two days before the singles.

The other twist in the tale could yet centre on European captain Colin Montgomerie, who has admitted he has taken out injunctions to stop stories about his private life leaking into the papers. If m'learned friends get any of that overturned, as they did with Rooney's attempt to keep his affairs out of the papers, then there will be another sideshow for the golfers to deal with.

Montgomerie talked glibly earlier in the summer about how Tiger's infidelities could damage morale on the US team because the other wives were all fond of Elin. You hope his words don't get dragged back out to haunt him.

Five things you might not know about Rickie Fowler

Born December 1988 in Anaheim, California, his middle name is Yutaka in honour of his maternal grandfather Taka who is Japanese. He first introduced Rickie to golf at the age of three. Rickie has worked with the same swing coach, Barry McDonnell, ever since.

Father Rod owns a trucking company, and was a successful dirt bike rider winning the 1986 Baja 1000 as part of the Yamaha team. Mum Lynn enters - and wins - mountain biking races

Rickie tried dirt biking too but quit after a bad accident when he was 14 left him with broken bones in a foot - that was when he turned all his efforts to golf

His girlfriend Alexandra is the daughter of PGA tour player Olin Browne

Tiger Woods always wears red on the final day of tournaments, Rickie chooses orange in respect to his time at Oklahoma State University

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