Pin the Tail on the European Ryder Cup Captain

According to the Times of London, Colin Montgomerie "all but admitted" this week that he will captain the European Ryder Cup team when the Cup returns to Scotland in 2014. Let's hope for Monty's sake that the European Tour has "all but admitted" to Monty that this is the case, and that Monty isn't just making implications as a none-too-subtle way of trying to box himself into the role.

There are some obvious candidates for coming captains roles on the European side: Monty, Jose Maria Olazabal, Darren Clarke. And what about Sandy Lyle? Doesn't a 2-time major winner deserve some love? He played as important a role in the resurgence of European golf as his peers Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer (but not as important as Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros), and they both have had turns as captain.

The Times reports on the palace intrigue:

For months the issue of the captaincy of the next three Europe teams has been a matter of conjecture. Might Ian Woosnam be persuaded to have a go in Wales in front of his countrymen in two years’ time, having been so successful in Ireland in 2006? That would leave José María Olazábal for the 2012 match in the US, which would not be an appropriate place for Montgomerie to be in charge, given his poor relationship with fans there.

But what about Thomas Björn, who is thought to want Olazábal to be captain in 2010 so that he can be in the running to lead in 2012? There is some sympathetic support for Sandy Lyle on the ground that he has been overlooked so far. Intriguingly, one name mentioned for 2012 is Darren Clarke, who will be 44 then and would not want for supporters among the players or the public.

But wait, maybe Monty's captaincy in 2014 - and his "all but admitting" that he has the role - isn't quite as certain as the Times makes it seem. Because later, the Times reports what Monty actually said:

“I will do my utmost to play in 2010 and 2012 and do something else in 2014,” Montgomerie said yesterday. While those words hardly suggest an arrangement inscribed in stone, it is hard to believe that one of the central characters in this story was not telling it as it is likely to be.

Yes, those words "hardly suggest an arrangement inscribed in stone," but they did suggest to a headline writer the headline, "Colin Montgomerie set to be 2014 Ryder Cup captain."

And if Thomas Bjorn gets to captain the team while Sandy Lyle is passed over, that will be a much bigger oversight than Hale Irwin or Larry Nelson never captaining the Americans (while Tom Lehman did).