Mike Aitken on Golf: Age and Faldo's failings add up to a Ryder Cup snub for unlucky Lyle

Published on Monday 26 January 2009 22:35

IF THE majority view, which prevails among members of the European Tour's tournament committee, that candidates over the age of 50 are too out of touch with the players to become the 2010 Ryder Cup captain at Celtic Manor was repeated in football, three of the Premier League's four biggest clubs – Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal – would be on the look-out for new managers.

All the knowledge, experience and acumen of seasoned campaigners such as Sir Alex Ferguson, 67, Luiz Felipe Scolari, 60, and Arsene Wenger, 59, would cut little ice with Thomas Bjorn & Co should they ever find themselves running an English football club. Only Rafael Benitez, 48, at Liverpool would currently pass the litmus test of youthful approval which is likely to influence the committee's decision making in Dubai tomorrow.

Of course, those charged with naming Nick Faldo's successor this week would argue that comparing leadership in golf and football is no more meaningful than contrasting apples with pears.

After enjoying a string of successes with captains who were in their 40s (only Mark James of those appointed between 1995 and 2006 who fitted the preferred age profile failed to win), Europe turned to Faldo, 51, at Valhalla in 2008. By general consensus, Europe's most successful golfer with six major wins and more Ryder Cup points than anyone else was a calamity.

Whether it's fair or not to assume Lyle would repeat Faldo's mistakes simply because he falls into the same age group is debatable. While it's true the former Masters and Open champion is not as familiar a figure to some of the current generation as Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal, the favourites for the post, what does it say about the committee's feeling for history when they're ready to snub one of Europe's most iconic players ?

Yes, winning is an important aspect of the biennial Ryder Cup pageant, but it's not the only issue. Honour is also a significant aspect of awarding the captaincy. As the first Briton to win the Masters and a valued member of the Famous Five – Faldo, below, Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer were the others – it's cruel to single out the Scot as unworthy of the challenge.

Bearing in mind Paul Lawrie is the only member of the 15-man committee who has won a major title while five have no Ryder Cup experience whatsoever, Lyle might be excused for wondering what credentials this group have for rejecting his candidacy.

On the other hand, it could be argued the unassuming Scot was remiss during the Nineties in not pushing his name forward with sufficient gusto. If Lyle had conducted a campaign say, in 1999 when Mark James was given the job, half as energetic as the one he's mounted over the past six months, then it's hard to imagine how he could have been refused.

As Europe's standard bearer in the majors today with two Opens and a USPGA to his name, it was interesting to hear Padraig Harrington question the exclusion of Lyle. "Maybe it's because he's a reasonably quiet individual and hasn't lobbied so much in the past and maybe because he's drifted away, purely due to age, from the younger players on Tour," he said. "But certainly if it was a few years ago I don't think we'd be having this discussion. Sandy Lyle would probably be captain."

Like fashions, points of view change and it's Lyle's misfortune a shared belief among the players that Europe need a near contemporary in charge of the team at Celtic Manor will eliminate him from tomorrow's deliberations.

With Montgomerie, who is a couple of years older than Olazabal, expected to be entrusted with the position in 2010 and the Spaniard the obvious choice for 2012, a vacancy looms in 2014 when the match returns to Scotland for the first time since Muirfield in 1973. Since it's another unwritten axiom of contemporary captaincy that individuals are honoured once, Monty can forget about serving a second term in Perthshire. Bearing in mind there wasn't an Irish captain at the K Club and there won't be a Welsh captain at Celtic Manor, Scotland can have no complaints in 2014 if the honour goes to someone other than Paul Lawrie.

Given, however, there was no Scot on the team against the USA last autumn for the first time since 1937, the pressure on the next generation of home professionals to play their way into the 2014 team will mount. After all, the prospect of a Ryder Cup staged in the home of golf without any Scottish representation is unthinkable, isn't it?