To be a member of the PGA Tour in the US, players have to play a minimum of 15 events. The European Tour, by contrast, seeks a commitment to 11 tournaments, which is measly when considering that seven of those are made up of the four majors and three World Golf Championships (WGC) events, all of which, bar the Open Championship, are played in the US.

Azinger realized the Ryder Cup was big. He had played in the event. He knew what it meant to tee off first on Sunday in the singles matches. He understood the pressure inherent in representing your country in the anchor match. Simply put - Paul Azinger got it.