Ryder Cup captaincy should return to Ian Woosnam

Passion doesn’t necessarily win you a Ryder Cup, but it goes a long way.

America had it at Valhalla, had it in bucketfulls, embodied by the energised rookies Boo Weekley, Anthony Kim and JB Holmes.

Europe used to have exclusive rights to Ryder Cup passion - it’s what drove them to three successive victories from 2002 to 2006.

That was stripped of them at Valhalla, and now it must be restored, not on the first tee at Celtic Manor in two years time - but now.

The decision of who will succeed Nick Faldo, as captain and hopefully as a more inspired leader, will occupy the agenda when stalwarts like Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke join 13 other Tour officials at St Andrews to begin discussions over the new captain.

The sooner the better.

Three names top the list - Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle and Jose Maria Olazabal.

For me, the man to do it is Woosnam.

I know the days of a player captaining the side more than once are over, consigned to history after Bernard Gallagher’s victory over the States in 1995.

But Woosnam engendered a real passion in the European team at the K Club two years ago, building on the platform of unity begun by Sam Torrance at the Belfry and by the quiet authority of Bernhard Langer two years later.

He showed great leadership, inspired his rookies, leant on his elder players and utilised the huge well of sympathy for Clarke, whose wife Heather had passes away just three weeks before the match.

Clarke responded with three points from three as Ireland adopted Woosnam as one of its own.

One other factor is that Woosnam is Welsh and with the competition in his homeland, the former Masters champion and World No 1 will generate huge support in the valleys.

The Welsh will help whip up a storm of passion on the undulating fairways of Celtic Manor.

Lyle is Woosnam’s likely challenger to the crown, and Woosnam may yet withdraw himself from the race.

The amiable Scot won major championships at home and across the pond, and would bring the same degree of quiet authority Langer commanded at Oakland Hills.

If Lyle misses out again though, he will rightly consider himself to have been overlooked harshly by the Tour committee who looked favourably on the other members of Europe’s big five who transformed the Ryder Cup in the 80s and were rewarded with their shot at captaining the team - Seve Ballesteros (1997), Langer (2004), Woosnam (2006) and Faldo just last week.

Olazabal continued Europe’s renaissance in the 90s and with his two major wins coming in America and making much of his living on the PGA Tour, he would be a better choice to lead the team at Medinah in 2012.

Olazabal’s playing days may be numbered as fatigue ravages his body, but reports coming out of the team room at Valhalla in the aftermath of Europe’s defeat cast a new light on the quiet Spaniard.

As Faldo’s only assistant, it was according to rookie Oliver Wilson, Olazabal who led the passionate rallying calls in the team room.

With Montgomerie almost certain to captain the side at Gleneagles in 2014, Europe can at least be confident that passion will be restored with the next men to take the hotseat, particularly if Woosnam retakes the mantle in two years time.

Americans running scared

Reading American golf websites, you would be forgiven for thinking the Ryder Cup was not happening at all next week.

The biennial match is supposedly the biggest golf tournament in the world, certainly from a team perspective, and the Americans should be hell-bent on revenge after three morale-destroying defeats at the hands of the unheralded Europeans.

One would expect the furore whipped up over the ensuing battle to be full of George W Bush style war rhetoric from columnists on partisan American sports websites like PGA Tour.com and ESPN.

While these two websites are always informative, entertaining and often controversial, the only Cup they are focussing on this week is the FedEx Cup, not the Ryder Cup.

Vijay Singh and Camillo Villegas dominate the golf news agenda Stateside, despite there being only eight days until the first tee shot at Valhalla, Kentucky.

The Fijian and the Columbian, along with Kenny Perry and Antony Kim who will make their Ryder Cup debuts next week, are chasing the enormous pot of gold at the end of the FedEx Cup rainbow, four tournaments that offer prize money of $10m.

Money talks in sport, and with only pride on offer in the Ryder Cup, the American media are licking their lips at race for millions.

But it is not just the FedEx Cup’s scheduling just days before the Ryder Cup, that has knocked the Ryder Cup out of the headlines.

It is also because the Americans are running scared.

There’s no Tiger Woods this year because of injury, and for the first time in living memory they go into the Ryder Cup without a reigning major champion.

Here in Europe, after a major drought spanning eight years, we now have the best golfer in the world on present form, Padraig Harrington, winner of three out of the last six majors.

The American media are also embarrassed by their form over the last decade of Ryder Cups, and have sought to smear the good name of the famous old trophy.

Following a record equalling 18.5-9.5 win at the K Club, concerns began to emerge over here that Europe’s dominance in recent years - winning five of the last six matches - could be a double-edged sword.

As well as Europe plays, as united as they become in the face of such overwhelming favourites they share the first tee with, it only serves to diminish the interest shown in the competition by the American galleries, and the people who fuel their conspiracies, namely the American media.

After losing a third straight Ryder Cup 24 months ago at the K Club, certain sections of the American media suggested the President’s Cup, where the US team take on a Rest of the World team packed with major winners like Singh, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Mike Weir, had overtaken the Ryder Cup as the principle team golf game.

Team Europe, with no major winners from 1999 to 2006, no longer held the right to be considered worthy opponents for the mights USA.

No doubt the players themselves did not feel that about Samuel Ryder’s trophy, steeped in tradition.

What those three consecutive defeats did prompted a change in attitude from the American golfing authorities, with 2008 captain Paul Azinger immediately announcing on taking office that he would increase his wild card picks from two to four.

Not the biggest of alterations to the format, but a revolutionary move nonetheless, and one that showed the America team, regardless of the media, are serious about winning back the Ryder Cup and restoring faith to their own game.

Nick Faldo’s team Europe go to Valhalla in unknown territory, as favourites. The Americans, who declare winners of their own sports like baseball and football as world champions, aren’t used to being the underdogs.

No doubt next week, after Villegas, Singh or some other fortunate walks off with enough money to feed a small country, the American media will shift focus to the Ryder Cup, but it won't be with the same inspirational rhetoric as before.

That's because Team Europe have earned the right to dictate the golf headlines.

Yorkshire rich with golfing success

Yorkshire golf is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance at present with some illustrious tournaments being won by professionals and amateurs.

We’ve had Hull professional Richard Finch winning the prestigious Irish Open, Rebecca Hudson of Doncaster prevailing in a play-off to win the Ladies Tenerife Open and Steve Uzzell clinching the second biggest prize in amateur golf, the Brabazon Trophy.

Danny Willett has turned from highly successful amateur into European Tour rookie but has shown no signs of slowing down with three top 20 finishes in four starts.

Rachel Bell has made a similarly impressive start to her new life on the Ladies European Tour whilst Georgina Simpson continues knocking at the door of a maiden win.

Iain Pyman teed off in the European Open at the London Golf Club in Kent today, the Challenge Tour stalwart - one of four Yorkshiremen in the tournament - making a fifth successive appearance on the main tour thanks to a third-place finish in the Austrian Open.

Simon Dyson is also returning to form after his two sterling rounds at Sunningdale clinched a spot in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale later this month.

Uzzell’s win in the Brabazon Trophy has elevated his amateur status, earning him a pair of England caps. He is currently in Italy representing his country in the World Team Championships.

A new star emerged at the Yorkshire Amateur Championship at Alwoodley Golf Club last week in the shape of 18-year-old Low Laithes golfer Richard Law.

The teenager showed great maturity to prevail against 165 players, over two rounds of strokeplay and four rounds of matchplay before eventually crushing Nigel Sweet of Moortown 10&8.

On the ladies amateur scene, Naomi Edwards, Emma Brown and Jodi Ewart continue to set records and defeat all before them both in individual competitions and whilst representing Yorkshire.

It is a wonderful tonic for Yorkshire golf to have all these shining lights raising the profile of the sport in the county through their achievements.

And long may it continue.

Finch, following breakthrough victories in the New Zealand and Irish opens, stands on the verge of a first appearance in a Ryder Cup. Another win over the next two months will guarantee him a seat on the plane to Kentucky, USA.

He makes his Open Championship debut later this month as a multiple winner on the European Tour.

Hudson finally ended her quest for a second title in Tenerife two weeks ago, rocketing up the Money List to seventh.

While the men tee off at the London Golf Club for the European Open today, Hudson begins her challenge for the English Ladies Open at the Oxfordshire Golf Club tomorrow as one of the favourites for the title.

She said: “The British love their sport and playing on home soil is always a highlight. I think there are a lot of new and established players who have a chance this week.”

Yorkshire golf fans also love their sport, and there are plenty of new and established players doing their bit to raise the standard.