Colin Montgomerie eyeing another crack at Ryder Cup captaincy

COLIN Montgomerie wants to be reappointed as a Ryder Cup captain when the biennial event is staged at Gleneagles in two years’ time.

The most recent captain put his own name alongside those of Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn on the list of players he believes will be the leading candidates to take on the role in 2014.

It is perhaps no surprise that Monty, who led his European team to victory at Celtic Manor in 2010, is keen for another stint of captaincy, given his enduring love affair with the Ryder Cup and the fact that he regards the PGA Centenary Course as home turf now that he lives at bearby Dunning.

Should he be given another term of office, it would not be an unprecedented move. Tony Jacklin performed the task four times in the 1980s prior to Bernard Gallacher taking over the reins on a further three occasions in the ’90s.

Montgomerie, 49, also claims that Ian Woosnam was considered for the role at Celtic Manor, four years after masterminding Europe’s success at the K-Club.

He would not have to be asked twice. The Scot declared: “If the European Tour wants me to be captain I will be. The Players’ Committee will decide.

“I was on the last one, so I know how it works. About 15 to 20 players, including a few ex-captains and potential captains, decide and their recommendation goes before George O’Grady, the chief executive of the European Tour, for approval. He has never opposed their recommendation in the past, as far as I am aware.

“This year was as easy as it could possibly be. Jose Maria Olazabal is two years younger than me and the transition was seamless. 2014 is more of an issue and there are a number of candidates – Clarke, Bjorn and McGinley, three of my vice-captains for a start, and then me.

“If you go back to the days of Jacklin and Gallacher – and I don’t believe the rules have changed – yes, there is an opportunity to do it again and I know for a fact that Ian Woosnam’s name was mentioned for Wales.

“So there is a possibility that might happen, but I won’t be putting my name forward. It is up to someone on the committee to say and I’ll leave the room again, as I did last time.

“My job is to help the European Tour in any way I can and I would do that by accepting the captaincy. The Ryder Cup has been my life since 1991 and I go to Kiawah Island tomorrow for the US PGA Championship where it all started.

“My job from then on, every two years, was to get 14½ points, whether as a player or in an administration role as captain.”

Olazabal has still to announce his assistants for this year’s match at Medinah and Monty emphasised that he will answer the call to be in Chicago next month, should his successor seek his support, also stressing that he has not so far been approached by the Spaniard.

He said: “You would have to think (Miguel Angel) Jimenez will be involved, but he is probably waiting because if Thomas (Bjorn) wins next week and here at Gleneagles he’ll be in the team and Olazabal will not want a repeat of what happened when Faldo chose McGinley as an assistant.

“McGinley felt he was playing well enough at the time to try to make the team and subsequently withdrew. But his name seems to crop up, as do those of Clarke and Bjorn, although I haven’t heard anything on the grapevine.”