IRELAND will forever remember the joyous, nerve-jangling climax to The Open -- yet our unforgettable week at Carnoustie actually got off to a miserable start.

Scotland's exposed North Sea coast was battered by a howling gale and drenched by sheets of rain that miserable Monday morning in July as the world's finest gathered for golf's greatest Major.

Yet big stories were breaking in tight confines of Carnoustie Golf Club, just across the road from the famous old golf links.

At a breakfast-time briefing for the upcoming Seve Trophy, Nick Faldo infamously suggested that the cream of Europe's current crop were too 'chummy' to win Major titles, followed soon afterwards by the announcement that Seve Ballesteros would never again wield a club in anger.

Stinging

News of Seve's retirement from competitive golf was always going to be sad -- but the timing of Faldo's outburst, which offered stinging criticism of the very players he will captain in next September's Ryder Cup, could hardly have been more unfortunate, given that victory by Mr Nice Guy himself, Padraig Harrington, came six days later.

Interestingly, Faldo didn't have to be cajoled into giving his forthright opinion on the social habits of Europe's top players. Far from it. He actually seemed to relish the opportunity to brighten up an otherwise dull day.

As viewers of the CBS TV network in the US have discovered, six-times Major Champion Faldo has transformed into a witty, urbane and informed commentator who displays absolutely no fear or favour when it comes to expressing his opinion.

Yet as 34 of the PGA Tour's leading professionals shake off the holiday tinsel for next week's Mercedes Championship in Hawaii, one can't help feeling that Faldo's position as European Ryder Cup captain will inevitably be compromised sometime over the next nine months if he continues doing his job as a broadcaster the way it should be done.

Ruthless

Faldo brings a wealth of experience to the Ryder Cup captaincy after his record 11 appearances on golf's most intimidating stage. Already, he has shown the same ruthless desire for perfection as he did as a player, sending back three prototypes of the golf bag his team will use at Valhalla.

Fifty-year-old Nick is also leaving absolutely nothing to chance with the clothing the European players will wear in Louisville, Kentucky, where he considers light shades will be essential to to combat the searing sunshine.

Technically, Faldo could be proud of his first steps into team captaincy at The Heritage last October as his Britain and Ireland team defeated the Continental side skippered by Ballesteros in the Seve Trophy. However, the shambolic circumstances surrounding Paul McGinley's 'selection' and subsequent omission, followed by the Dubliner's decision to step down as Ryder Cup vice-captain, were worrying.

Faldo's failure to acknowledge the significance of having an Irish player in the 'home' team made it difficult for the public here to identify with the Seve Trophy, leading to dreadful financial consequences for the event's hosts.

In the weeks after the Seve Trophy, Faldo issued a stunning public dressing down to European warhorse Colin Montgomerie for allegedly failing to attend a couple of team meetings or to rally to the Britain and Ireland cause as his comrades played the 18th green.

Monty insisted recently that old wounds had not been reopened: that he and Nick "had spoken and everything is fine".

Yet the Scotsman readily agreed it was crucial for the European team to retain the ambience which had been such an important feature of recent Ryder Cup victories if they were to have any chance of success in Valhalla.

"Good question," said Monty. "It has been very important the last 10 years of our success in the Ryder Cup, that we've had that. Nick is his own man. He's a very, very individual man.

"Let's hope that that ambiance remains through 2008. It's got to, because the Americans have already changed their schedule, putting the Tour Championship after the Ryder Cup to give the whole Tour a week off before Valhalla, and they've changed their qualifying system, giving Paul Azinger four picks, which I think has to be stronger than only two.

"They (the Americans) don't like losing. Three in a row was bad enough but they certainly don't want it to become four in a row, especially at home.

"So let's hope the ambiance of our European team remains as it has done throughout that time, that success of our team, meaning that we go in there relaxed, we go in there as a team."

Yet the pressure will still be on Faldo to perform in the commentary booth, Montgomerie conceded. "He is encouraged to be controversial on television and yet he can't be in his job as Ryder Cup captain. You have to be the ultimate diplomat. nowadays and it is quite difficult."

One suspects that Faldo's performance behind the mike in coming months might be as key to Europe's propects in Valhalla as the performance of the players in front of the cameras.