The influence of captains at Ryder Cups has been widely debated over the last 20 years and is virtually impossible to quantify outside the team dressing room.
Every champion wants to go out on top, yet few succeed.
When a separatist revolt erupted in Indian Kashmir nearly 17 years ago, former national soccer captain Abdul Majid Kakroo quit the game to run a small business.
With 60 shots heard around the sporting world, former fertiliser salesman Xu Haifeng took his place in Olympic history and became a Chinese national hero.
For nearly three decades soccer international Chen Chengda was one of only a handful of Chinese who possessed a medal for participation in an Olympic Games.
Guus Hiddink has not even started work as Russia soccer manager yet he has already become the darling of local fans and media.