Don’t play it again, Sam

IT now looks as if Sam Torrance means it when he says he will not stay on as captain of the European Ryder Cup team at Oakland Hills, Detroit, in 2004.

He has again gone on the record to acknowledge the salient point that there is no way he could improve on the result achieved at The Belfry last month, that even a win on US soil couldn’t, and wouldn’t, have the same impact. Been there, done that and so on.

And, yet, in spite of his lofty words, you suspect the door is still ajar: if the players and the fans want me, and that kind of thing.

Forget it, Sam. By 2004 you will be hard at it on the seniors circuit, both in Europe and the US and will have lost a lot of contact with the players.

You will probably find that several members of this year’s side, guys you knew very well and played with for much of your own career, have been replaced by a whole host of younger men with whom you won’t be particularly familiar.

Don’t play it again, Sam, leave it to people like Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo and perhaps even Bernhard Langer to battle it out for the honour and the responsibility. For one thing, they are worthy candidates and still have a little time on their side before crossing the 50 mark and moving on to the seniors scene.

A ny one of the three would be an excellent choice and you would like to believe that the losers would automatically agree to act as vice captain and in any other official role considered appropriate. Which, of course, leads us on very nicely to 2006 and the next match at The K-Club.

There are strongly held views in this country that the man should be one of Des Smyth, Christy O’Connor Jr or Eamon Darcy.

Ireland’s current triumphant trio, Darren Clarke, Pádraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, are all on the record as supporting one of their fellow countrymen. Across the channel, as well as on mainland Europe, the notion has been rubbished and it is clear that there are interesting times ahead.

Torrance’s stance on the 2004 issue is relevant here. If he has a change of heart and decides to run, he’ll get the job. That’s as good as written in stone.

And if that comes to pass, there will be even more challengers to the Irish trio two years later, given that Langer, Faldo and Woosnam both remain in contention. If Torrance stands down, Woosnam, Langer or Faldo will have had his ambition realised and leave the path that little bit clearer for an Irishman in 2006.

However, in four years’ time, other people will have emerged with their eyes set on leading Europe. Colin Montgomerie has already thrown his hat in the ring although he may still be urgently needed in a playing capacity.

By then, too, each of the Irish candidates will have been plying their trade on the seniors circuits.

Torrance was a month past his 49th birthday when captaining Europe at The Belfry and even he was carrying out the role a year later than planned. In 2006, Smyth will be 53; Darcy 54 and O’Connor 58.

It all combines to make this an uphill battle for the Irish contenders.

I’m far from opposed to the idea. I’m just pointing out the realities which make the realisation of their dream probably the biggest challenge of the respective careers of Messrs Smyth, Darcy and O’Connor.