Clarke and Singh to captain sides in EurAsia Cup

Clarke replaces Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez as skipper of the Europeans, whose debut team in Malaysia two years ago lacked the star names of the continent like Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson.

Fittingly for one of the world’s most compelling sporting contests, it was a presentation of jerseys from the five Minnesota sports teams – the Vikings, Timberwolves, Lynx, Twins and Wild – to the two captains which launched the countdown to next year’s Ryder Cup at Hazeltine.

“Even before being named as Captain I was excited about The Ryder Cup coming to Hazeltine, as the Twin Cities will serve as an incredible backdrop for this event”, he said.

“Davis and I have been friends for a very long time”, he recounted.

“We have played together on tour for most of our careers”.

Europe is the defending champion and has dominated the Ryder Cup over the last 30 years, losing the cup only four times since 1985.

“I’m sure next year the atmosphere is going to be electric. I think it’s going to be great for Asia and Europe”, Singh said.

He is relishing captaining Team Asia and believes that Asian players are now more than capable of out-witting their European counterparts in team competitions, with four Asian players qualifying for the Presidents Cup side to face the Americans in South Korea next month. When we get to Kuala Lumpur, Jeev and I will be trying to kick each other’s butts.

“There are so many world-class Asian players”.

“I hit a lot of quality shots all four days but just found greens tough to read but all in all, I am really happy with the way I have been playing since Firestone”.

He also claimed the Major he covets the most – the Open Championship – in 2011 at the age of 42.

The battle for golf’s storied Ryder Cup has begun with a friendly exchange between team captains in Minneapolis.

“It’s not only a great honour to be asked to captain the European EurAsia Cup but it’s a great opportunity to get a close hand look at some younger guys who are doing well on the Tour, who could possibly qualify for the Ryder Cup team”, said Clarke. I’m looking forward to going up against Darren.

“We want to go there and win the EurAsia Cup”.