Ireland’s finest in the frame to lead Europe

With Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke now neck and neck favourites to captain the European Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles in 2014, and Shane Lowry winning his first tournament as a professional in Portugal, the game in Ireland has certainly been in the news over the last week or so.

Many are surprised that the captaincy issue has gone so public, bearing in mind that the appointment won’t be made until January in Abu Dhabi. And for Irish observers, the situation could hardly be more ironic, given we now boast the two strongest candidates when nobody in our previous 65 years involvement in the event was deemed worth of the honour.

It is hardly surprising that McGinley and Clarke are keen to lead Europe in 2014. There is a widespread belief that McGinley should be the man at Gleneagles and Clarke at Hazeltine two years later but it’s not as simple as that. Neither is blind to how shabbily their countrymen have been treated in the past and that several rivals with strong backing are flexing their muscles.