Clarke holds fire but says no second term for Faldo

DARREN CLARKE refused to criticise Nick Faldo’s brand of leadership after Europe surrendered the Ryder Cup at Valhalla, but does not believe he will get a second chance in the job.

Faldo decided to do without Clarke, the hero of the 2006 victory at the K Club, by selecting Ian Poulter and Paul Casey as his wild cards but the Irishman holds no grudges.

Instead, he believes the long queue of elder statesmen waiting for the job means retaining the captaincy, as the likes of Bernard Gallacher and Tony Jacklin did, is a thing of the past.

Reflecting on the 16½ – 11½ American victory in Kentucky, Clarke said: “Nick tried to do what he thought was best for the team.

“This time America just played better than we did, as simple as that.

“In the past few (Ryder Cups) Europe have putted better, but this time American holed the big ones when they had to. All the momentum was with them this time.”

But despite defending Faldo’s input, he added: “I think the days of doing a repeat captaincy are long gone now.

“We have so many great players in line wanting to do the captaincy. They will all be given the chance to do that.

“He was a fantastic player and a fantastic ambassador for European golf but we have enough guys. Monty is coming up, Jose Maria (Olazabal) is coming up, so is Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Of the contenders, Clarke believes Olazabal, Faldo’s vice captain this time, is in pole position.

“Monty, I think, would prefer to wait for Gleneagles (in 2014) if he had the choice and he’d be a great captain in Scotland.

“Jose Maria would be at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts for Celtic Manor. He’s such a good player he could still be in contention to be a player then but he’s been ill and injured and he might struggle to make it.