Clarke taking first steps to Ryder Cup captaincy

Four years after being snubbed by then European captain Nick Faldo, Darren Clarke will return next week to Gleneagles taking the first steps to the 2014 Ryder Cup captaincy.

Clarke is set to be named later this month (August 27) as one of Jose Maria Olazabal’s four Medinah vice-captains before the real likelihood now of returning to Scotland in 2014 as Europe’s team leader.

It means Clarke is set to throw the gauntlet down to fellow Irishman Paul McGinley along with 2010’s winning captain, Colin Montgomerie, who has expressed a desire to again captain Europe.

Clarke hasn’t contested the Johnnie Walker Championship since 2008 when Faldo overlooked his credentials of two victories that season and failed to offer him a Valhalla ‘wildcard’ pick.

But Clarke’s appearance next week in the Scottish event has already raised eyebrows given his outspoken criticism in 2008 of the Gleneagles greens.

However the prospect now of being chosen early next year to replace Jose Maria Olazabal has led to Clarke’s change of heart.

And while course designer Jack Nicklaus recently unveiled major changes to Gleneagles, Clarke will end a four-year absence knowing he’s never broken 70 in eight rounds.

“I wasn’t initially playing Gleneagles but they’ve made changes so I’m playing the Johnnie Walker, Switzerland and Holland,” said Clarke. “I believe the Gleneagles changes are good so that’s why I am going to play.”

McGinley has long been the short-priced favourite to replace Olazabal on the back of having impressed greatly in steering GB & I team to consecutive victories in the Vivendi Seve Trophy, along with his respected stature in the Tournament Players committee room where a new Ryder Cup is voted.

Clarke, who is two years younger than McGinley, looked set to be offered the GB & I captaincy this time last year but then qualified for the team on the back of his British Open success.

In Clarke’s favour is the fact he’s a Major champion, a veteran of five Ryder Cups, including the 1997, 2002, 2004 and 2006 winning sides, and was a member of Monty’s 2010 back room team.

McGinley is staking his claim on the back of being a member of three winning Ryder Cups from 2002 to 2006, a double winning GB & I Vivendi Seve Trophy captain, a 2010 Ryder Cup vice-captain like Clarke along with being a valuable component of the Players Committee and a born leader.

Clarke, who turned 42 earlier this week, said: “Jose Maria has said nothing to me at all.

“Of course, if I was asked I would love to go to Medinah I would do anything that I could to help Europe retain the Ryder Cup.”

The good money is on Olazabal also naming McGinley, Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez as his other vice-captains.

But then Olazabal’s August 27 press conference is first and foremost to announce his two Medinah ‘wildcard’ picks.