Ten of Great Britain & Ireland's top PGA professionals will attempt to restore some golfing pride this weekend when they face the United States in the 24th PGA Cup.
America currently claim bragging rights over the Ryder Cup, Walker Cup, Curtis Cup, Solheim Cup and Presidents Cup, not to mention the Llandudno Trophy which the two teams will contest at The Carrick on Loch Lomond.
The onus is on Gary Alliss and his team including Paul Wesselingh from Kedleston Park making his sixth successive appearance, to balance the silverware and try and recapture the PGA Cup which gets underway tomorrow morning (September 18).
"It's not much fun that all the silverware sits the other side of the pond," conceded Alliss.
"But for us the important thing is the PGA Cup and that it is an aspiration for younger players to get into the team.
"There is definitely more interest in this event. It may not yet translate into spectators but as the interest grows hopefully that will develop over time."
He added: "I think at the moment if you look at the quality of the players, and trace where they've come from there is a lot of talent - guys like Lee Rinker, a runner up to Tiger Woods in the Byron Nelson Classic, James Lee who won Kenyan Open when it was a European Tour event and guys like Jeremy Robinson who played on the tour for umpteen years.
"The hair might have got a little greyer or a bit thinner but these guys can actually still biff it around."
Tomorrow's morning foursome pairings will be announced at this afternoon's Opening Ceremony at Cameron House where Peter Alliss is among the guest speakers.
The three day matchplay is based on a Ryder Cup style format of foursomes, fourballs and final day singles and US captain Brian Whitcomb is set to draw heavily on the example of Paul Azinger, who captained the 2008 American Ryder Cup team to success at Valhalla.
"I was able to spend quite a bit of time with Paul during the preparation and playing of the 2008 Ryder Cup," said Whitcomb.
"I observed a lot, learned a lot probably the biggest thing I took from Paul was not over coaching.
"You're captain, and you've got some obligations and you do that and formulate your team as best as you can but quite frankly then it's my job to get out of the way because they'll be hitting the shots, making the putts I hope and that's what it all comes down to."
The PGA Cup has been played on three previous occasions in Scotland and the US has yet to win but Whitcomb is not dwelling on that statistic.
"The locker room banter doesn't go like that, other than trying to get them to play at best and leave everything out on the golf course then the cards fall where the cards fall," he said.
"We don't talk much about history or trends when it comes time to play. That's for when it's over.
"We are doing what we can do to instil confidence in our team but very mindful of the quality of our opponents, and very respectful of that.
"I'm just proud our professionals get chance to represent our country and going to try as hard as we can to retain that cup. But in the end I'm just grateful for the opportunity that this cup event provides for the players and the game of golf. The game will win come Sunday.
"We're going to try everything we can to retain that cup but at the end shake and do it in right spirit with right type of sportsmanship."
17 September, 2009