US Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger says Hunter Mahan’s comments that Ryder Cup golfers are “slaves” count against the player but the skipper hasn’t ruled out picking him for the American team.

Mahan, who is currently tenth on the US qualification list, threw into question American enthusiasm for the Ryder Cup with the comments he made to a magazine reporter.

“From what I've heard, the whole week is extremely long," Mahan said in the interview. "You've got dinners every night - not little dinners, but huge, massive dinners. I know as players, that's the last thing we want to do.

“We want to prepare ourselves. That's part of the whole thing: You're just a slave that week."

Mahan has already apologised to his prospective captain and to the PGA of America. Now Azinger is treading a delicate line to make sure the comments are not as damaging to American morale as they might have been.

“He’s wrong,” Azinger told me. “He’s never been there; it’s a lot of opinion for someone who has never been to the Ryder Cup.”

And so do these comments count against Mahan in the captain’s eyes? “A little bit,” Azinger admits. “But I feel he’s done all the right things. He called me right away and I explained to him why I thought he was wrong.”

Under the new US qualification system the captain has four picks and it is conceivable Mahan will be in line to secure one of those berths.

“I’ve said all along I’m going to pick players who are hot, so if he’s hot he’s going to get picked. That’s the way I look at it.

“If he’s not then I’ll sidestep him. I didn’t take what he said personal, but he was wrong and I think he realises the mistake. He’s only young and you’ve got to give young people a break once in a while,” Azinger added.

Players are always on guard not to put a word out of place and I know how they feel given the vitriol generated on these pages by my contention that Lee Westwood is “undoubtedly” Europe’s best chance this week.

I accept that this is harsh on Open Champion Padraig Harrington. Of course he is the only European in recent years to have shown he has what it takes to win a major.

But to win the final two majors of the year back to back doesn’t happen very often – outside Tiger Woods in 2000 and 06, Nick Price was the last to achieve this feat back in 1994.

Harrington also has to improve on a previous best finish of tied 17th (his only top 20) from nine US PGA appearances.

There will be a huge premium on accuracy with the driver this week and this plays into Westwood’s hands as he has few peers in this department at the moment.

But his putting will need to be on song on these difficult undulating greens.

It’s noticeable that in the absence of Woods the media army covering the Championship has diminished somewhat and television executives are bracing themselves for a drop in viewing figures.

Those statistics won’t be boosted by the man himself. Woods has revealed he's unlikely to be able to bear watching on TV this week.

“I probably won’t watch any of this one,” he told ESPN Radio. “This one’s a little more frustrating for me.

"I’m two-time defending and not being able to get out there and defend something I’ve already defended once and can’t do it twice, it’s a little bit frustrating.”

So it’s fair to assume he’ll spend more time catching the Olympics.

By 2016 golf may even feature in the games as the sport makes a concerted bid to join the Olympic family.

Whether golf should be included is an issue that seems to split the players. Ian Poulter and Masters Champion Trevor Immelman showed little enthusiasm for the idea while Phil Mickelson believes the sport should gain Olympic status.

“It would bring in 168 different countries and their Olympic foundations,” said the world number two. “All those revenues would be going toward the growth of the game of golf.”

I wonder what Hunter Mahan thinks of the idea?