Darren Clarke believes Tom Watson’s appointment as American Ryder Cup captain has come as a “bolt from the blue” and really given Europe food for thought before they name their man.
It was widely seen as a straight choice between Clarke and Paul McGinley when the tournament committee meets in Abu Dhabi next month, but last year’s Open champion is not so sure – and that may bring 2010 captain Colin Montgomerie back into the equation.
Clarke, in London yesterday to receive the PGA Recognition Award for his services to golf, said: “I think it could well affect who is appointed.
“A lot of people, myself included, were surprised when Tom Watson was appointed.
“It’s a big statement and brilliant for the event – there are few more iconic figures in golf, he’s adored in Scotland (the 2014 match is at Gleneagles) and it sends out a statement that they are very serious about winning the trophy back.
“Maybe we have to have a look and consider other people as well. Whoever it is standing on that stage opposite Tom Watson needs a huge presence.
“We seriously need the right man for the job.
“We do have an (unwritten) rule where we don’t ask anybody to do it again, but we might have to look at that.”
Those words might well reduce the odds on Montgomerie being asked to do the job again in his home country.
Initially earmarked for Gleneagles, the eight-time European number one agreed to take on the position two years ago at Celtic Manor and led Europe to a nail-biting one-point victory.
Clarke does add that if he is asked to take charge it would be an honour to do so, but the Northern Irishman also thinks he could have one more playing appearance in him.
The last of his five caps came at The K Club in 2006 – amazingly he won all his three games just six weeks after his first wife Heather lost her battle with breast cancer.
“If they asked me to do it it would be a difficult decision to take. I’m still only 44 and it’s not that long ago that I won The Open,” he said.
It was in July last year, of course, that Clarke, 111th in the world at the time, triumphed at Sandwich.
He has since dropped back to 145th in the rankings, but a top-10 finish in the Australian PGA Championship has raised his optimism for 2013 and beyond.
Europe’s Ryder Cup hero Martin Kaymer has a nightmare in which the five-foot putt he sank to beat Steve Stricker on Medina’s 18th green slides agonisingly past the hole and his career spirals into decline.
The German’s victory over Stricker in September guaranteed Europe would retain the trophy after one of the most improbable comebacks in the history of the competition. “Now I honestly feel like my whole career might have been on the line,” said the former world number one.
“I sometimes think about what would have happened if I had missed it.”
