"I'm definitely not playing, " Lehman said.

Earlier in the year when a series of strong performances had moved him into the top 10 of the US points table, Lehman indicated that he had ambitions to be the event's first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963.

"I really don't see any reason why I can't continue to improve and why I can't have a legitimate shot at making the team, " he explained last February. "I don't see why that's not possible."

However, since then he has dropped to 24th place in the table, and will now assume the traditional non-playing captain's role.

"I wouldn't say that it's impossible to be a playingcaptain, but it would take an awful lot, maybe a better player than me, " he added. "In order for me to play great, I've always needed to be single-minded and focused, and to put a lot of preparation into my game. But as the year has progressed, that preparation time has been seriously reduced."

When Lehman first said he wanted to qualify as a player, Bernhard Langer, who led Europe to a record victory at Oakland Hills in 2004, thought he was wildly underestimating the demands of wearing two hats at such a pressurised event.

"It's just too much to do.

There's no way with the Ryder Cup as big as it is that the captain can be prepared to play, " said Langer.

Even Jack Nicklaus chose to remain on the sidelines when he was captain at Muirfield Village in 1987 just a year after he had won the Masters.