Colin Byrne Caddie's Role: Maybe I am being a little bit irreverent, but last week I was not really focusing on the Ryder Cup. My lack of interest seemed compounded by the rest of the tournament's obsession with it. We were at the northeast suburbs of Munich at North Eichenried for the BMW International Open.

It is a stylish event that seems to have tried to replace the extinct Lancome Trophy, which used to be held in the leafy suburbs of Paris, as the classy event on tour. The courtesy cars line up in the car park with their elegantly presented chauffeurs dressed in dark, fashionable suites. The cars themselves are naturally the best-looking BMWs on offer.

The tented village is undoubtedly the most suave-looking hospitality area I have seen. The focal point is the display of cars at its epicentre.

The surrounding stands are all of a high quality of presentation. The walkways are carpeted, and only the beer gardens are left with the natural grass surface, in keeping with the local tradition.

Everyone connected with the organisation of the event is dressed in an identifiable grey uniform.

The volunteers, who keep score and carry scoreboards, are all smartly decked out in black and white Hugo Boss gear. Even the accreditations we receive are a credit-card size with cool graphics on them.

The stands surrounding the feature holes are unique. They are not the biggest grandstands you have ever seen, but they are certainly eye-catching. All draped in a white shroud, they are unmistakably advertisement props for the main sponsor, but so artistically presented that the advertising is not so apparent.

The Fairway Club temporary marquis, which is where the hosts entertain their most favoured guests, is like the trendy lobby of a modern five-star hotel. The food and beverages matched the decor, the best of taste.

I realised, as I arrived at the course last Tuesday, that this was the week for the final Ryder Cup selection by the number of journalists who had made the journey to Bavaria.

As I came out of the scorers' chamber on Sunday (BMW don't do huts), a journalist asked if I had time for chat. I was of course preparing for a potential play-off, so I had to dash; he was unaware of the state of play.

The outcome of this event was insignificant to most scribes, they were here for one thing only and that was Ian Woosnam's announcement of the team and, specifically, his captain's picks.

A perfect opportunity for a non-starter like my player, Retief Goosen, to sneak into the winner's circle while the rest of the world was caught up in the Ryder euphoria.

Our draw for the first two rounds was keeping us intimately attached to the week's topic, as we played with Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington. Paul has probably lived the Ryder Cup quest daily for the last three months and now it was down to these last two rounds for him to secure his place by making the cut.

It was obviously a big week for Paul and one in which he wanted to prove his worth. By his admission, he played poorly, but the balance of the two selection tables swayed, whereby he actually moved up the list and finished ninth and guaranteed his spot. Monty finishing better than 47th moved Jose Maria Olazabal to 10th position.

Paul had his friend, the charismatic Eddie Jordan, with him. Eddie followed our group for the first two rounds and stayed on with Paul as he practised his putting until it got dark on Thursday night.

The Dubliner has certainly suffered with the putter and I am sure he will do everything he can to regain some of the form he showed earlier in the team selection process before he joins the team in Kildare in three weeks.

It seems to be a trend in modern golf that players have their "special" supporters. There is an affable German gentleman who attends every German event to follow Padraig's every move. We played with Padraig in Hamburg last month and I got accustomed to his inimitable catch-cry of Jawohl each time Padraig sank a putt. Yes "indeed" rang around the course last week as Padraig's special supporter became engrossed in his hero's progress.

Earlier in the week there was a shoot-out between 10 of the star players.

Retief won the little event and was presented with a bike from BMW, and not a car. The second prize of air-tickets with Emirates airlines seemed more likely to be the top prize.

Retief, as luck would have it, was planning to buy a new bike, so the shoot-out win was well-timed.

I know it was only a shoot-out win, but any win is a confidence booster when your form is sagging, like Goosen's has been in recent months.

The phone that the contestants received for playing in the shoot-out was also well timed as it had a video camera, which had a special golf-teaching programme on it. We used it on the range during the week, and Retief, who does not use a coach, could figure out a few swing moves on the new video.

With a little visual aid and the Ryder Cup distraction, Retief found himself in a great position to win the tournament. Despite a one-over-par first round, he played golf like he knows he can over the final three rounds.

In a play-off with Padraig and Henrik Stenson, the young Swede proved too good for either of the relative veterans by eagling the first play-off hole with a four-foot putt.

I give up, I have got sucked into the euphoria of "the Cup" .

What encouragement for the team that Stenson won, Padraig was in a play-off, David Howell, Luke Donald and Monty all had good tournaments.

It bodes well for a good European team result.