MoxVlog

The Captainess has landed. In an event where spouses have long played a prominent role Lisa Pavin, wife of the USA captain, has surpassed herself and those who have gone before her. "I don't deserve this much attention," said the 36-year-old, who was by her husband's side today as the team landed at Cardiff airport.

There will be some who will not demur but in a sport where women are often forced to take a back seat, at an event where women through the years have been reduced to ornaments at best, and ridiculed as air-headed Barbie dolls at worst, Pavin has swept through the establishment, demolishing the stereotypes like a wrecking ball.

She only arrived in the US with her South Vietnamese naval officer father and family after the fall of Saigon in 1974, growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, and after losing her mother at the age 11, helped raise two younger sisters and a brother, so gaining a fiercely independent streak.

She has since become a breath of fresh air to some, and a right pain to others. "I am very passionate about everything I do," she says. "If I choose to do something I'm going to go full force. This [the Ryder Cup] is my passion; this is my husband's dream. When your husband has this dream you are going to do everything you can to make his dream come true."

There is no doubting the sincerity of her support, just as there is no denying that her efforts on behalf of her husband have turned her into a bona fide golfing celebrity. She is, for instance, the first Ryder Cup captain's wife to become embroiled in a slanging match with a TV reporter, forcefully defending her husband after he was accused by Jim Gray of the Golf Channel of "lying" in a he-said-he-said argument over whether or not the USA captain had confirmed Tiger Woods would receive one of the wild-card picks – Pavin said he had not, Gray said that he had.

On another occasion she upbraided a Sports Illustrated journalist who she perceived to have slighted her husband in the late 90s, long before the couple met. There is no time‑limit on Lisa Pavin's ire, apparently. "If your husband was in any way being put down, whether it's being ambushed at a press conference or being talked about badly, you're going to defend him," she says. "It's a natural instinct. I'm not going to have my reputation tarnished or my husband's reputation tarnished."

Then there was her decision to pose for Avid Golfer magazine, dressed only in a carefully draped red, white and blue flag. The pictures were published with the approval of the PGA of America, which appointed Pavin as captain, but that failed to stop golf's "women should be seen and not heard traditionalists" muttering their disapproval. The Pavins were unrepentant. "A lot's been said about that photograph, but I thought it was done in great taste. I thought it was a beautiful picture. She's a beautiful woman and I'm lucky to have her as my wife," he said.

The accompanying headline parroted the nickname she has embraced – Captainess – and the interview was, as the world of golf has come to expected from Pavin since her husband's appointment, passionate in defence of her expanded role. "When I hear people say, 'At Ryder Cups, why are the wives so involved?' I think, 'Why wouldn't they be?'" she told the Fox Sports website.

"Golf is a very individual sport, so when you come home your wife is your best friend, your confidante, your lover, your sports psychologist. A wife plays a very big role in a golfer's life. I think a wife's as big a part of your team as your caddie.

"So when people say the wives are having a more important role, well that's because we should. We play a very integral role in the life of a golfer and therefore we're going to play a very integral role in the [USA] team."

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