Unlike the American team, we couldn't get everybody together as a lot had various commitments. But I don't think that puts us at a disadvantage. Instead, I believe Tom Lehman saw it necessary to gel his players together more because he sees the US team as being behind in that regard. Maybe it's because we mix more together. Europe is a smaller place and when the guys are playing in tournaments over here, they are often staying in the same hotels and they see a lot of each other and you'd always meet someone there for a bite to eat and a chitchat.

Whereas in America it's so spread out. If you're there for a tour tournament everything is so much bigger. You stay in a greater variety of places and you seldom see guys away from the course.

So for that reason they were trying to narrow a disadvantage and it's working well. It was a good idea from Tom Lehman's point of view and something he put a lot of planning into.

But we are focusing on our own agenda now that the 12 names are set in stone. There has been a bit of controversy surrounding Thomas Bjorn's reaction to missing out, but that hasn't affected us. It didn't go down well with Thomas but it wasn't the right thing to do, to react so publicly and in the fashion he did. The fact he apologised suggests he knows he shouldn't have done it. I was a little surprised he went about it that way, not totally mind you. But it's the name of the game. The captain has two picks and people will miss out. When you are talking about the players in contention, they're all real star players and you are splitting hairs as to why one gets the vote.

And there were quite a few in contention right up until the end. With Darren Clarke's situation it really boiled down to one selection. Darren let it be known he'd like to play and there was no doubt he would be selected. You just couldn't have a European team without him. He's such a class player and his trackrecord speaks for itself. But up until a few days before it, Ian really had five or six players in mind for the final spot.

He had this young guy Johan Edfors, he had Miguel Angel Jimenez, he had Lee Westwood and Thomas, he had Carl Pettersson. So he was spoilt for choice.

But Lee wasn't a surprise in our eyes. It came down to the point where it was between Lee and Thomas.

My input was pretty simple.

Earlier in the year Ian asked me to keep an eye on how the tour was going and when it came down to selection time I was to give him my two names and the reasons why I'd pick the player. As it turned out there was only one and I gave him my reasons.

He was getting that same input from his other vice-captain Peter Baker and Sandy Lyle who is part of the team as well. I spoke to him from Pebble Beach at 6.30 in the morning local time last Sunday. It was afternoon in Germany and I said to him, "Have you made your decision?" He said, "I'm still undecided. I have to make it in the next few hours but I'm just going to have to go with my gut feeling." I told him that was the way to go about it, and that's how we ended up where we did.

I think Lee's previous form at the K Club had a bearing on it. I think his performance two years ago as a Ryder Cup player had a bearing on it.

Ian also felt Lee was running into form. He's been playing particularly well lately which is naturally an important factor.

But we know we have a huge task ahead. I've heard a lot of talk about the US rookies but anyone who plays their way onto a Ryder Cup team is not weak. And everybody's a rookie at some stage. So I'm feeling confident but I'm under no illusions. They feel equally confident so we've got a hell of a task ahead of us but we're looking forward to it.

Des Smyth is vice-captain on the European Ryder Cup team In conversation with Ewan MacKenna