CRENSHAW NEW RYDER CAPTAIN, BELIEVES HE HAS NEEDED GRIT.

Byline: Associated Press 

The easy Texas charm of Gentle Ben Crenshaw seems wrong for the Ryder Cup captaincy he accepted Wednesday, yet enough smoke seeped through to indicate he might have the fire to reverse 14 years of U.S. mediocrity in the competition.

``I sometimes think `Gentle Ben' might be a misnomer,'' said Crenshaw, who played the last 12 holes of his Ryder Cup singles match in 1987 without a putter after he broke it over his foot.

``Sometimes I can be very competitive in spots,'' he said in a conference call from PGA of America headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where he was introduced as the 1999 captain. ``I think players I've played with know that.''

Crenshaw also touched on three insightful points that indicated his studious approach to the game might put him in a position to make the difficult decisions needed to be a successful Ryder Cup captain.

The U.S. team lost the past two Ryder Cups because the Europeans were better around the greens.

He is willing to bench team members who are not playing well at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., in two years.

He will challenge his team's sense of pride with the fact that the United States has failed to bring home the Cup five of the past seven times since 1983.