Because Colin Montgomerie had five worthy candidates as captain's picks and could only take three, Paul Casey and Justin Rose were left off the European Team. Then Montgomerie famously referred to his dilemma as an "embarrassment of riches". Maybe it gave Paul Casey, who has been living in Arizona for most of his adult life, much pressure.

Some people thought Pavin was very lucky for he didn't have to announce his picks the day after the PGA Championship, instead having three additional tournaments to allow players to state their case. On the other hand, he can take the lesson of Montgomerie.

However, Pavin still had difficulty in make a decision.

Arjun Atwal,  who was born and raised in India and now lives in Isleworth,  won the Wyndham Championship at Greensboro and qualified Tavistock Cup, but not the Ryder Cup. In a result, he wasn't even eligible for the FedEx Cup.

Then in the Barclays,  despite at last the winner was Matt Kuchar, who already is on the team, Martin Laird stormed to the leading place of scoreboard and became  a candidate of Wild Card.

This week will come Deutsche Bank Championship. It starts Friday on the TPC Boston. Maybe it can help Pavin decide his picks. And Pavin will make the announcement a week from Tuesday at the New York Stock Exchange.

Tiger Woods figures to be a lock to make the team, for no other reason than he wants to play. And it helps that Woods took a significant step last week toward at least starting to resemble the world’s No. 1 player. Woods spent his final few minutes at Ridgewood cleaning out his locker and going over the possibilities of Pavin’s picks.

Anthony Kim the catalyst of the U.S. victory at Valhalla in 2008, won the Houston Open and was third at the Masters. Then he had thumb surgery, sat out for three months, and has made only one cut since his return—at Firestone, which has no cut. He is all but forgotten now, although a good week at the TPC Boston might put him back on the radar screen. The Ryder Cup does not start until Oct. 1.

Most players believe Zach Johnson is the logical pick behind Woods. The former Masters champion has a splendid short game and won at Colonial, then finished one shot out of the playoff at the PGA Championship.

As for the final winners of three wild cards, they are still secrets. All of these are up to Pavin now.