Pavin and Monty given much food for thought

US RYDER CUP captain Corey Pavin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after surveying the leaderboard at the end of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron.

He would have been thrilled to see the domination of numerous Americans, led by the highly impressive winner Hunter Mahan, who had Ryan Palmer, tied second; Bo Van Pelt and Sean O’Hair, tied fourth and Jim Furyk and Jeff Overton, tied sixth in his wake.

You needed to go down to eighth before you found the leading European, the Swede Peter Hanson, while Ireland’s Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy scraped into the top ten having shared ninth spot.