Kuchar counts down to debut

Kuchar: Ryder Cup rookie

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Matt Kuchar admits he cannot wait to experience the excitement and nerve-jangling tension of competing at the Ryder Cup for America.

The 32-year-old secured his debut in the match after taking the eighth and final qualifying place available in Corey Pavin's team.

Clearly boosted by his qualification, the in-form Georgia Tech graduate won his first event of the season at The Barclays last week and now leads the FedEx Cup standings.

Kuchar met up with Pavin and six of the seven other men to have qualified for Pavin's team at a dinner this week and, having heard first-hand of the contrasting emotions the event produces, is now looking forward to experiencing it for himself.

"Ryder Cup, gosh, it really was something that I thought was outside of my realm for a couple years," he told PGATour.com. "To have qualified for the team, anytime you can put the American flag on and represent your country, it's an awesome thrill.

"Just to hear some of the stories about how nervous people get but how much fun it is at the same time, to have the team camaraderie and to have the nerves so bad you can't hit the shot on the first tee that you have to say, 'You hit it; I can't do it' is exciting, to be put in that situation and see how you handle it."

US Skipper Pavin has still to announce his four wildcard selections and will not do so until next Tuesday.

With Tiger Woods amongst those players looking for a pick there is fevered speculation as to who will get the nod, although Kuchar is refusing to be drawn on the issue.

Wildcard discussions

"I am not sure, and I think I'm going to leave that one alone," he added. "There are a lot of good players, and you hate to leave anybody out, so I'm going to leave that one alone."

Steve Stricker, who made his Ryder Cup debut at Valhalla two years ago, was also at the dinner with his team-mates this week and feels Pavin has a firm idea of who he will be selecting.

"He kind of wanted to get our feelings on who we liked for the picks that he needs to make this coming week," he said. "But basically (it was) just to get together and put things out on the table and get our feelings out there in the open and be together.

"I think he's got a pretty good idea who his picks are going to be.

"I think he still has some questions. I think it depends a lot on what happens here this week, and he wants to have some players step up and show him something, I think."