Kite demands respect and offers loyalty in return

"How close did you come to picking yourself?" The place was Winged Foot, last month. The morning after the PGA Championship. The PGA of America had presented Tom Kite with his official captain's ring just a minute or two earlier and the babyfaced Texan was still twirling it around his chubby finger, savouring his new power.

Arnie Palmer once described his friend Gary Player as "the greatest competitor in the game." Yet, Kite's competitive nature is next to none. Often he has been accused of having an unsettling effect on his playing partners simply because of that competitive streak. The wide-rimmed glasses, boyish innocence and seemingly permanent smile mask an inwardly tough cookie, a guy not easily given to fools.

So, the question wasn't merely a token gesture, a foil to Kite's ego. Everyone knew that Kite had seriously considered himself. It was in his nature.

A short time earlier, Kite had rattled out his possible captain's choices. Tolles, Jones, Stankowski, Brooks, Couples, Duval, Janzen, Watson, Pavin, Stewart, Irwin. Then added, "one other guy, that kid from Texas, Tom Kite. You know he's playing well right now and he's got a lot of Ryder Cup experience. Golly, he's a great pick. He really is a great pick." Only half in jest? Whatever, Kite plumped for Couples and Janzen, but the undercurrent of the US captain's competitive streak told its own tale.

He seems the ideal choice as a captain, all the same. Brad Faxon remarked: "Tom is so positive, so emphatic, in his belief in us. It makes you feel great just being around him. He's also the kind of guy you can talk to about anything." In a word, Kite demands respect. And the key to Kite's captaincy could be that same respect.

Justin Leonard, a fellow Texan, knows that more than anyone. Kite, a graduate of the University of Texas, has nurtured and acted as mentor to Leonard from his college days and, now, into his professional career, ironically steering him to a major win in faster time than he achieved himself. Kite had earned over six million dollars in prizemoney and was the US Tour's all-time money-winner before he managed to win a major, the 1992 US Open (at the age of 42) at Pebble Beach.

Prior to Leonard's British Open win at Royal Troon this summer, Kite, when practising with his prodigy, told him that there was "no way" he (Leonard) would be a captain's pick.

"Don't worry, I won't have to be," replied Leonard, "because I'm going to win a tournament and force my way in."

"Fine, you do that," retorted Kite, honest as ever. "But there is no need for you to hurry over to Spain before the singles. I doubt you'll play before then and, of course, your name will be in the envelope."

That was at a time when Kite was worried about Leonard's game. Yet, when the US captain was in the airport departure lounge on the final day of the British Open, and heard of Leonard's exploits, he immediately headed back to the links. As well as demanding respect, he offers loyalty.

Kite knows what the Ryder Cup is all about. On seven occasions, he was a member of the US team. His strike-rate of 15 wins places him fourth in the all-time US points classification. On the US tour, he was consistently one of its top players. Kite had won 16 times on his home tour - and finished in the top-10 in majors on 19 occasions - prior to his US Open win at Pebble Beach, where he conquered the course and high winds.

Some eight months later, he broke the tour's scoring record with 35 under par in the desert of Palm Springs when winning the Bob Hope Classic. That year, Kite also won the Los Angeles Open - but he hasn't won on the US circuit since (his best performance in the last four years was finishing runner-up to Tiger Woods in the US Masters in April), his efforts being hampered by a back injury.

Kite, born in Austin, Texas, on 9th December 1949, turned professional in 1972 after an impressive amateur career that earned him Walker Cup and Eisenhower Trophy honours. He was Rookie of the Year on the US tour in 1973.

As the US team's qualifying for the Ryder Cup approached, Kite joked that he had become the most loved man in golf; that fellow players even offered to act as babysitters during tournaments. Yet, when the time came for his "wild card" picks, Kite's only criterion was to select the two men he felt would best serve Team USA's cause. That's the sort of man he is.

Indeed, it is a telling compliment to Kite's character that the moment in golf he cherishes most of all is not winning the US Open nor being selected captain to the US Ryder Cup team, but receiving the Bobby Jones Award from the USGA in 1979. "That's the one I'm most proud of because it is given for sportsmanship. When I look at the names of the great people and players who have won it, well, that's high cotton. They're a nice crowd to be running around with."