Backroom boys set sights on top job at Gleneagles

The champagne had not even dried on the European team room walls before thoughts turned to the next Ryder Cup trophy defence and, more pertinently, who will succeed Jose Maria Olazabal as captain at Gleneagles in 2014.

The greatest golf show on earth switches back across the Atlantic from sunny Chicago to a potentially soggy Scotland as Europe bids for another three-in-a-row in this century and there are plenty of veteran golfers who would fancy their chances of leading the defending champions into the 2014 matches in the birthplace of the game, not least the four vice-captains who assisted Olazabal at Medinah Country Club last week.

Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ireland’s Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley each have outstanding resumes to lead a team they have all served so admirably over the years and the winning captain paid tribute to his vice-captains on Sunday night in the aftermath of a momentous victory.