Trying to do a live link up from various corners of America can be a bit of a guddle so it was probably just as well that Team USA’s Ryder Cup wild cards weren’t decided on the basis of technological nous. “I was trying to figure out this Skype thing and got on the world wide web and went from there,” said Matt Kuchar, as he displayed the kind of high-tech befuddlement that used to be the reserve of a fumbling old colonel trying to fathom out his grandson’s digital watch.

Kuchar, along with Rickie Fowler and JB Holmes, were named as the first three captain’s picks by US skipper Davis Love III yesterday with the final one to come during the half-time break of a NFL game the week before the Ryder Cup itself. The Americans do like a bit of razzmatazz, after all.

There are a few names in the hat for that last call of duty. Bubba Watson, the world No 7 who narrowly missed out on automatic selection and finished higher on the points table than the trio named yesterday, would be the obvious choice. His best form, though, was some six months ago but his prodigious length, over a Hazeltine course that can stretch to an eye-watering 7,700 yards, would be a sizeable weapon in the armoury.

It’s not all about crash, bang, wallop, of course, and it appears that there are numerous contenders for that final spot. Justin Thomas, Ryan Moore, Gary Woodland, Daniel Berger, Kevin Chappell, Kevin Kisner, Will McGirt, Bill Haas, Kevin Na? “We have another tough decision coming up in two weeks,” said Love III.

It could be a tough one for Bubba too. Ryder Cups tend to involve a fair deal of nod-and-a-wink customs and old pals acts. An anonymous, if somewhat puerile, poll conducted last year suggested that a quarter of PGA Tour players wouldn’t help Watson out in a hypothetical bar brawl and thus indicated that he isn’t overwhelmingly popular in the locker room. His selection is by no means a certainty, particularly if one of those aforementioned contenders comes with a rousing late surge in the Tour Championship.

Love III also made it clear last night that a team ethic was far more important than individuality. "We are a sports team and we have to draft the right players for the right positions,” he said. “There have been a lot of things to look at. Making the pairings, fitting into the team, doing all the little things you're asked to do.”

There can’t be much argument with the trio that Love III has already pencilled in. Fowler, who is also a member of that Task thingymebob, was a certainty given his popularity among his peers and his past experience, despite failing to register a victory in any of his two previous Ryder Cup appearances. The 27-year-old also has a bit of knowledge of Hazeltine and lost there to Aberdeen’s Richie Ramsay in the quarter-finals of the 2006 US Amateur Championship.

Holmes, who returns to the Ryder Cup fray for the first time since 2008 has been highly consistent in 2016 while Kuchar is a steady hand who has missed just two cuts this year and is determined to make up for the shuddering American loss the last time the biennial battle was held on US soil at Medinah in 2012.

"I can't wait to make amends," he said. "It was awfully painful and those are the things that make you tougher."

Whether Watson gets the chance for redemption too remains to be seen.