Warren Blog: U.S. team is fired up and ready to go

In this edition of his exclusive PGA Cup blog, U.S. Captain Roger Warren discusses the challenges he faces in putting his two-man teams together and the motivation he and his players have to win again after the U.S. lost in Ireland in 2005.

By Roger Warren, United States Team Captain

Well, we are here for the start of the 23rd PGA Cup and I am having a hard time expressing how honored, appreciative, and excited I am to captain the United States team as we take on our esteemed counterparts from Great Britain & Ireland.

Being named captain of the U.S. team certainly has to be one of the great highlights of my career as a PGA member. In fact, I'd have to say it ranks just behind being elected president of The PGA of America. It is such a thrill and privilege for me and a responsibility I take very seriously.

The PGA Cup is a very special event for PGA members because it is both a recognition of their playing abilities and an opportunity for them to represent The PGA of America and the United States in a premier international competition. It doesn't really get any better than this for us as PGA Professionals. It is hard not to get too caught up in the magnificence of our setting. We are here in this incredible venue, staying at the Ritz and playing the marvelous Oconee Course -- a Rees Jones layout that is just spectacular.

But as special as this setting is, make no mistake about it, we are here to win a very important competition. We feel good about our chances, we like our team, and we are playing with a purpose and commitment. Our team understands that we'll have to play our best to beat a very talented team from Great Britain and Ireland, but I think we will.

One of the important tasks that I have as captain is to develop an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each of my players and use that information to create the best team match-ups as we start play tomorrow. For the past three days, I have been watching each player play in the various formats used in this event. Now I've seen each member of our team play before, but these last few days have really been insightful. On Tuesday of this week, I watched each of the team members play their own ball as they played a practice round. Yesterday (Wednesday) I watched them play nine holes of four-ball and nine holes of foursome, and we did the same rotation earlier today.

As Americans, team formats are rare for us and there is such a different mindset when you play in a foursome or four-ball match vs. the individual stroke play that we are mostly accustomed to playing. I am sure that the practice and the experience over the last two days will prove invaluable for our team as the matches progress this week. I should point out there was one different element to today's practice. We finished with everybody, all ten guys, playing the last hole together: One hole, one team. It was great.

Watching them play golf didn't really offer too much in surprises; they are all very talented players. But I really wanted, and needed, to get a sense of how well they related to each other as I went about setting up the pairings. It's clear that there are some starkly different personalities on this team, and I think that teams like this play their best when you meld those personalities.

Our United States team is a team that has come together very quickly. They like each other, they are having a good time with each other and that's going to carry over into shared confidence as they play together.

So yes, of course, we feel good about our chances of winning the PGA Cup. We have the talent and the determination to acquit ourselves very well here. And though we are not dwelling on it, the fact is, we did lose the last PGA Cup -- the first time in 22 years that the United States team did not win. So that fact, along with the fact that the United States team has never lost this event on American soil, those are some additional motivations for us as we start play in the morning.

But the greatest motivation is to represent ourselves, our association and our country to the very best of our abilities. I'm very happy to write that I have full confidence that we will do just that. The first tee shot will be struck at 8:00 a.m. Friday morning. I can't wait. Like I wrote earlier, it doesn't get too much better than this.