No time for Langer to jump ship on Ryder Cup

BERNHARD LANGER has never been one for jumping fences before he met them so it was all the more surprising to hear him recently express some doubts about his position as 2004 European Ryder Cup captain.

I was just one of many who doubted the wisdom of his appointment in the first place because of the fear of Europe losing one of their most valuable players as a consequence.

The news was broken during the Nissan Irish Open at Portmarnock and the timing to many seemed rushed and unnecessary. Langer issued a brief statement to tell us how proud he was at being awarded the captaincy and all that kind of stuff but had nothing to say to those who believed he was taking the job at a time when he might still have a great deal to offer as a player.

A few weeks later, he has apparently had a change of heart and claims he will play if his form merits it at the time and that he will hand the captaincy over to his vice-captain, whoever that might be.

Suddenly the picture isn't as clear-cut as we had all imagined and now a scenario is emerging whereby the German might decide to forfeit the captaincy as little as a month before the matches at Oakland Hills, Michigan this time next year.

Having accepted the job, I believe it behoves Langer to stick to his guns because a lot of damage could be done by changing boats in midstream, especially if his replacement didn't enjoy the same level of respect and esteem with the top players as he himself does.

The battle for the precious points began in Switzerland at the weekend and hardly surprisingly given the way most of the season has gone, the Europeans made little impression. South African Ernie Els walked away with the European Masters to further stretch his lead at the top of the order of merit over Darren Clarke and with second and third places filled by New Zealander Michael Campbell and Argentinian Eduardo Romero, nobody stole a march in the points race.

Having missed out on last week's Smurfit IPGA Championship an event that suffered badly due to his late withdrawal Padraig Harrington returns to the fray in the Lancome Trophy at St Nom-La-Breteche near Paris starting on Thursday. He hasn't played since the US PGA Championship in mid-August because of the birth of his first child ,but he said last night: "I'm looking forward to getting back to tournament golf. I've been practising but there's no substitute for actually playing competitively. Everything at home is going well so hopefully I can finish the year on a high note."

Harrington certainly has set himself a busy schedule between now and Christmas, beginning this week in Paris after which come two extremely lucrative tournaments, the German Masters in Cologne and the Dunhill Links Championship which he defends at St Andrews at the end of the month; the WGC-American Express Championship in Atlanta; the Madrid Open, the Volvo Masters, Seve Trophy, the WGC-World Cup at Kiawah Island on November 13-16 and finally the BMW Asian Open and Tiger Woods's Williams World Challenge in California in December, both of which titles he will be defending.

Harrington will again be partnered in the World Cup by Paul McGinley and they will be hoping to repeat their victory of 1997 over the same Ocean Course at Kiawah.

Interestingly, if Harrington had been unable to play, Ireland wouldn't have had a team in the event at all because with Darren Clarke unavailable, no two other players from this country had sufficient world ranking points to merit inclusion. Harrington has retained his ninth position in the rankings, immediately behind Kenny Perry and just in front of Phil Mickelson, while Clarke is 13th.

Meanwhile, negotiations are proceeding about the venue for next year's Nissan Irish Open. Gerard O'Toole, the sponsoring company's chief executive, is on record as favouring a course in or near Dublin, preferably a links, but with Portmarnock expressing a decided lack of interest and Nissan unlikely to get into bed with Royal Dublin, which has a no-women members clause in its constitution, it is difficult to see how the second part of that ambition can be realised.

I have heard the new Colin Montgomerie course at Carton House near Maynooth suggested and certainly it has a lot going for it. It is believed that the Mallahan family who own the 36 hole complex would react favourably to any financial contribution required of them and they certainly have a magnificent facility. For now, though, they lack a clubhouse and that could be a serious stumbling block. The Seve Ballesteros designed Heritage Golf & Country Club near Portlaoise is another potential Irish Open venue but it doesn't open for general play until next month and probably needs a little more time.

However, should Gerard O'Toole have a change of heart and opt for a course in the provinces, he could hardly look beyond Adare Manor which last week housed a very successful Smurfit IPGA Championship. Paul McGinley successfully defended his title and waxed eloquently about the quality of the Robert Trent Jones designed lay-out. "It's not just one of the best in the country, it's one of the best I've ever played", said McGinley, a man not given to saying the right thing just to placate a host. As we have often pointed out here, you need more than a course to stage a successful, modern European Tour event. Just as with Fota Island in 2002 and '02, Adare has everything you could possibly need in that respect.

Tom Kane, the owner of Adare Manor, has never made a secret of his ambition to host an Irish Open at his magnificent complex. A lot of bargaining will go on between now and possibly as early as next month before the 2004 venue is finally agreed upon.