Team captains begin countdown to Ryder Cup

The next year, in the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills, on the last hole of his singles against Clarke, Love refused to widen his stance just a fraction and take relief because his foot would then have been on a sprinkler.

The battle for the Ryder Cup began Monday with a friendly exchange between rival captains in a Minneapolis skyscraper a half-hour away from the suburban course where the 17-inch trophy will be awarded this time next year.

Europe Captain Darren Clarke said, “We have known each other a really long time, We have played together on Tour for most of our careers, so we have played together for a very long time”.

Clarke feels Westwood’s form is better than the results he has been achieving, but he would still like him to make his team without the need of being a captain’s pick purely because of the experience he boasts from playing in eight previous Ryder Cups.

“It is a special event – I remember watching it two years ago and it was so exciting. It’s going to be a great week – the guys are really looking forward to it already”.

“It’s an honour to be offered the EurAsia Cup captaincy and I am very excited by the prospect of leading what I hope will be a very strong Asian team”. The teams will consist of 12 members and one non-playing captain each.

The two-time major champion failed to play the required number of events to keep his PGA Tour card for next season, and he will not be able to accumulate any FedEx Cup points in the limited number of appearances he can make in the United States in 2016.

“If he is in and out, does not get to play a whole lot of tournaments, it will be tough for him to make the team”. That was an unfortunate incident and I think we’ve learnt a lot from it…

The 2016 Ryder Cup is at Hazeltine and, speaking at an event held a year ahead of the biennial match against Europe, Love said he expects Woods to be involved in a few capacity. But I think we will have our players ready. What Suzann did was correct in The Rules of Golf, but in the spirit of the game, it was wrong. We are not going to win the next 10 Ryder Cups but let’s try to win seven out of the next 10, let’s have an offence that we are going to run and trust. “We will be hungry to win”.

Clarke says he’s counting on an “electric” atmosphere at Hazeltine National next fall with the spectators skewing against his 12-member squad.