U.S. could use some Bruins magic at Ryder Cup

Come this weekend, there is a chance that we could be looking at a second consecutive dragon slaying by a Gutty Little Bruin.

Last Saturday, Rick Neuheisel turned a prize bull into a lot of cow chips. Now, Corey Pavin will take his United States Ryder Cup golf team against a formidable, heavily favored European team.

Can powder blue stun the sports world again?

UCLA had no chance against Texas in football. Similarly, Pavin and the boys in red, white and blue might as well not even show up. At least that’s the way the betting is going around here, where there is always a lot of betting on everything.

The Ryder Cup is all about home-course advantage. The home captain, in this case Colin Montgomerie, can set up a course in any way he desires. If the other guys have lots of faders off the tee, expect higher rough on the right. If the other guys have more long hitters who tend to muscle drives about 315 yards, expect fairways to end in higher rough out about 305.

Montgomerie says he hasn’t done that, unlike previous successful European captains Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam. The British press is all over him about that. He smiles and says he wants the course to be a fair test for the best team to win.

That, of course, means that the collapsible gopher holes and portable wind machines are in place, with operators on hand to run them.

The course is named Twenty Ten, has been built at the plush Celtic Manor Resort for exactly this occasion — thus the name — and has been a regular stop on the European Tour for several years. Team Europe knows all the nooks and crannies; Team USA won’t even see the place until Tuesday’s practice rounds.

Team USA couldn’t have seen all that much, period, Monday. It arrived, via charter from the PGA Tour event in Atlanta, about 11 a.m. Team members paraded off the plane wearing sunglasses.

It was either a response to the red-eye flight or there was endorsement money involved. Sunlight was not the issue. There was none Monday, nor much expected here this weekend. This is the United Kingdom in October, where the dress code to get the mail is a rain suit.

A European victory here isn’t a foregone conclusion, just an assumption.

Much is made of six of the top 16-ranked players in the world playing for Europe. Little is made of four of the top five — Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk — being from Team USA. Only No. 3 Lee Westwood of England interrupts that. The very presence of world No. 1 Woods used to strike fear in the hearts of all others teeing it up. No longer, apparently, although his participation, announced three weeks ago, did sell thousands of tickets.

The Woods-induced sellout will bring 45,000 people a day, 90% of them rooting on Europe, for each of the three practice days, starting Tuesday and each of the three competition days, starting Friday.

Until the first tee is stuck in the likely wet ground early Friday morning, under the likely dark skies, Pavin has been sort of going along for the ride. His news conferences have been exercises in articulate noncommittal.

Montgomerie has all but announced two of his foursome and/or four-ball teams.

“You might see the Molinari brothers [Edoardo and Francesco of Italy] playing together,” Montgomerie said, which means you will. “Also, those two from Northern Ireland [Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell] seem to be friends and like to play together.”

Pavin, an All-American at UCLA before turning pro in 1982, said he would announce his pairings when he had to, Thursday at the opening ceremony.

Montgomerie sprinkled in a tidbit of news when he said that, because he is so caught up in the Ryder Cup, he will go back out after this captaincy is over and try to play his way onto the 2012 team. No European captain has ever done that. Pavin made no such commitment, saying he hasn’t touched a golf club in a month.

They even took slightly different stances on their no-Twittering rule, both seeing harm in the distraction [and silliness] of engaging in social media when the task at hand needs total focus.

“It’s not a ban,” Montgomerie said, “because if somebody does it, well, how can you punish somebody for it?”

Pavin, more firm, said, “Tweeting or Facebooking or whatever it may be, they have the opportunity to do that next week. And for the rest of their lives.”

Pavin has committed nothing publicly, has given no edge, no hint of anything up his sleeve, revealed no emotion other than the obvious delight at being the captain. If this were poker, Montgomerie would be all in and all out before he knew it.

But it isn’t poker. Europe does have a great team. Odds point to a long trip home for Team USA.

But then, there is that Gutty Little Bruin factor.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com