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Golf Digest, Sept, 2001 by John Hawkins, Tim Rosaforte

Lehman: [Singer] Huey Lewis comes on. He says, "I know, we'll go to the European team's hotel and turn off their hot water! No, wait--that'll make them think they're back home! Forget about that." They got the UCLA dance line going for Steve Pate, these knockout girls, and everybody's like, "Oh, wow, Steve." Then they show the Centenary dance line doing a cheer: "Hal, Hal, he's our man. If he can't do it . . . " And Ashley is like, "Hal, who are those girls? Do you know those girls?"

Julie Crenshaw: We watched the video, then Governor Bush came in. Ben had planned the Alamo speech [Alamo commander William Barret Travis' refusal to surrender in 1836] three months before the Ryder Cup--we had no idea it would be so appropriate.

President George W. Bush: I walked in the room and was surprised by the relaxed atmosphere of the players. As I read Travis' famous letter, the room was silent, the players and wives seemed to listen to every word. I finished with the "victory or death," wished them Godspeed, told them the country was pulling for them, and immediately left the room. I wasn't sure of the effect. Who knew what would happen? One man did: Ben Crenshaw. He never lost faith.

Mickelson: We weren't in a life-or-death situation, but we were representing the United States and what so many of those individuals had fought for.

Melissa Lehman: He gave this speech about the Alamo, but it wasn't any one thing that was said. It was more or less everybody sharing what the week had meant to them.

Love: You go around the room and everybody says something. There's a lot of emotion. It's the wives who haven't been there before, like Ashley Sutton, who talked about how proud she was of Hal. It's Tracey Stewart talking about how happy she was to be on another team and meet some of the younger people.

Maggert: It might have been just one or two words, but it seemed like everybody in that room had one line that lifted us just a little.

Furyk: Pate started off and said something really sarcastic, kind of a smart-ass comment, and it got us laughing, because that's his role. He's the guy who keeps you loose. That got us rolling. He was the funny guy, and there were guys who were serious and guys in between.

Pate: I was sitting there in pain, and I wanted to go get my back worked on. It kept dragging on and on, and I probably did make some smart-ass comment.

Lehman: My most vivid memory is of Payne talking about his father. He talked about his dad and got teary and emotional. He wished his dad could have been there to see him play. That moved me a lot.

Tracey Stewart: I do remember Payne saying how unfortunate it was that his father wasn't around to see most of his victories, how he was envious of Mark O'Meara, who's had his father travel with him. He would have loved to have done that with his dad.

Pate: Hal and Payne were the two real leaders. Tiger's real quiet. He wasn't sitting in the background, but he wasn't a vocal, rah-rah guy. That was Payne more than anybody.

Tiger Woods: I was just sitting there, head down, tired. Hal was the same way. Beat up, tired. All of us were just worn out.