RYDER CUP CAPTAINCY SELECTION IS A MESS THAT NEEDS SORTING
FROM THE SUNDAY TELELGRAPH WEBSITE
By JAMES CORRIGAN
When Paul McGinley says he will be “right behind whatever decision the committee make” next week about the Ryder Cup captaincy, this is not false modesty, anticipating that he will get the job following Darren Clarke’s effective withdrawal from the race on Friday.
No, McGinley will be an anxious man when the Tournament Players Committee comes to vote in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
By JAMES CORRIGAN
When Paul McGinley says he will be “right behind whatever decision the committee make” next week about the Ryder Cup captaincy, this is not false modesty, anticipating that he will get the job following Darren Clarke’s effective withdrawal from the race on Friday.
No, McGinley will be an anxious man when the Tournament Players Committee comes to vote in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
The 46 year-old is an experienced member of this group and is fully aware how
quickly things can change in the rather chaotic process of naming Europe’s
next leader.
McGinley was there in that same hotel convention room four years ago when
Colin Montgomerie, having barely been considered as a candidate before the
meeting, was suddenly told the job was his.
In truth, there has been more structure in choosing captains of the darts team down the local boozer than there is in naming the captain on an entire continent, for a match which is so influential in keeping the European Tour afloat.
In truth, there has been more structure in choosing captains of the darts team down the local boozer than there is in naming the captain on an entire continent, for a match which is so influential in keeping the European Tour afloat.
It is a mess, which plainly needs sorting. Clarke does not know whether
officially to withdraw his candidature or not. That is because the players
are not allowed to declare their candidature in the first place.
“The Ryder
Cup captaincy is not something you go out and campaign for, it’s
something you’re invited to be,” says McGinley.
It sounds honourable, as do so many of golf’s traditions. It isn’t. It’s
antiquated. And has no part in this multi-million pound spectacle.
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that at least one committee member is intending to bring up the disorderly nature of the procedure. The rank-and-file members will turn up, hear a few names suggested and then be expected to vote with nothing more than prior knowledge and instinct.
They may query whether Sandy Lyle has been approached to see if he is interested? Has Miguel Ángel Jiménez been asked? If Monty, then why not previous winning captains. Bernhard Langer anyone?
What would be wrong with seeing a few presentations from the strongest “candidates”? If they do not want players being pitched against each other in an election race then they have not been watching and reading since the Miracle of Medinah.
Clarke and McGinley have been put up against each other in the media, with whispers of broken deals and the current Ryder Cup players expressing their preferences. With so many European heavyweights approaching the end of their playing days this type of scenario will be repeated. Now is the time to give it some structure. It can only help the poor voters, the majority of whom are heading for the desert in the dark.
Four of the 13 expected to be in the meeting (Jiménez is injured, while Robert Karlsson is playing in America) have already been mentioned as possibles (Clarke, McGinley, Montgomerie and committee chairman Thomas Bjorn). At least three of the other nine (Paul Casey, David Howell and Henrik Stenson) might fancy their own chances one day. One of the other six is Chilean (Felipe Aguilar).
Ian Woosnam, the 2006 captain, used his Twitter feed on Friday to call for a radical overhaul of the decision-making process. The Welshman’s idea is for a committee of past captains to decide. Under the current set-up he feels there are “too many players on the committee wanting the job”. Woosnam does not just mean for 2014 but for the years ahead.
Bjorn is vital in ensuring the correct man is picked. He says that he has sounded out many of September’s winning team. “We want to give them the right captain to play under,” he said.
That is the playing side of the match. There is much, much more to Ryder Cup captaincy as evidenced by the fact Bjorn will sit down before the meeting with the European Tour chief executive George O’Grady, Director of Tour Operations David Garland and Ryder Cup director Richard Hills, to hear their thoughts. The commercial aspects must be considered as well.
If it was solely based on the former, McGinley would be a shoo-in. In his three appearances as a player, his two times as an assistant and his two winning experiences as a Seve Trophy captain, he has become almost obsessed with the art of golf captaincy. Of course, he would not be averse to the publicity or the money (captains can pull in £1 million-plus in endorsements and future opportunities), but he also craves the purity of the challenge.
So what could possibly stop him, with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Ian Poulter all extolling his merits? Regardless of that well-worn phrase “we just want the right man for the job” the belief still lingers in the locker room that the player should “deserve” the role. McGinley has only won four times in 21 years on Tour. Compare him to the last four captains (Woosnam, Faldo, Montgomerie and Olazábal) and his achievements pale into insignificance.
Tom Watson could be another factor that works against the Dubliner. In the charisma stakes, McGinley has no chance. Montgomerie would have a squeak, beating his home drum on Tartan soil.
But would they really be prepared to appoint their first repeat captain since 1995, having won six out of eight with eight different captains? Don’t bet against it. If Medinah told us anything, it is that nothing is certain in the Ryder Cup.
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that at least one committee member is intending to bring up the disorderly nature of the procedure. The rank-and-file members will turn up, hear a few names suggested and then be expected to vote with nothing more than prior knowledge and instinct.
They may query whether Sandy Lyle has been approached to see if he is interested? Has Miguel Ángel Jiménez been asked? If Monty, then why not previous winning captains. Bernhard Langer anyone?
What would be wrong with seeing a few presentations from the strongest “candidates”? If they do not want players being pitched against each other in an election race then they have not been watching and reading since the Miracle of Medinah.
Clarke and McGinley have been put up against each other in the media, with whispers of broken deals and the current Ryder Cup players expressing their preferences. With so many European heavyweights approaching the end of their playing days this type of scenario will be repeated. Now is the time to give it some structure. It can only help the poor voters, the majority of whom are heading for the desert in the dark.
Four of the 13 expected to be in the meeting (Jiménez is injured, while Robert Karlsson is playing in America) have already been mentioned as possibles (Clarke, McGinley, Montgomerie and committee chairman Thomas Bjorn). At least three of the other nine (Paul Casey, David Howell and Henrik Stenson) might fancy their own chances one day. One of the other six is Chilean (Felipe Aguilar).
Ian Woosnam, the 2006 captain, used his Twitter feed on Friday to call for a radical overhaul of the decision-making process. The Welshman’s idea is for a committee of past captains to decide. Under the current set-up he feels there are “too many players on the committee wanting the job”. Woosnam does not just mean for 2014 but for the years ahead.
Bjorn is vital in ensuring the correct man is picked. He says that he has sounded out many of September’s winning team. “We want to give them the right captain to play under,” he said.
That is the playing side of the match. There is much, much more to Ryder Cup captaincy as evidenced by the fact Bjorn will sit down before the meeting with the European Tour chief executive George O’Grady, Director of Tour Operations David Garland and Ryder Cup director Richard Hills, to hear their thoughts. The commercial aspects must be considered as well.
If it was solely based on the former, McGinley would be a shoo-in. In his three appearances as a player, his two times as an assistant and his two winning experiences as a Seve Trophy captain, he has become almost obsessed with the art of golf captaincy. Of course, he would not be averse to the publicity or the money (captains can pull in £1 million-plus in endorsements and future opportunities), but he also craves the purity of the challenge.
So what could possibly stop him, with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Ian Poulter all extolling his merits? Regardless of that well-worn phrase “we just want the right man for the job” the belief still lingers in the locker room that the player should “deserve” the role. McGinley has only won four times in 21 years on Tour. Compare him to the last four captains (Woosnam, Faldo, Montgomerie and Olazábal) and his achievements pale into insignificance.
Tom Watson could be another factor that works against the Dubliner. In the charisma stakes, McGinley has no chance. Montgomerie would have a squeak, beating his home drum on Tartan soil.
But would they really be prepared to appoint their first repeat captain since 1995, having won six out of eight with eight different captains? Don’t bet against it. If Medinah told us anything, it is that nothing is certain in the Ryder Cup.
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