2016 Ryder selection role for McGinley

Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley is assured of a major say in who succeeds him for the 2016 match against the United States after European team chiefs announced an overhaul of the selection process.

McGinley will be joined by Jose Maria Olazabal and Colin Montgomerie, plus the European Tour chief executive and a tournament committee representative, to reach a decision in early 2015, after Ryder Cup Europe decided the last three captains should play a key role in determining the man to lead the team.

McGinley will skipper the team at Gleneagles next year, while Olazabal was captain last year at Medinah and Montgomerie was in charge at Celtic Manor in 2010.

It was confirmed the 15-strong tournament committee, that has selected captains since 1999, will step aside to allow the new panel to make the appointment.

It means the change will come into effect for the identification of the successor to the current captain, Paul McGinley, for the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minnesota.

Europe’s Ryder Cup director Richard Hills said: “This decision has come after a series of tournament committee meetings and, after much reflection, it was felt that this change would see the most suitable candidate being invited to follow on from Paul McGinley at Hazeltine.

Prior to the tournament committee picking the man to lead European missions, it fell to a Ryder Cup committee to select the captains. That committee chose just three men to lead the European team: John Jacobs (1979 and 1981), Tony Jacklin (1983-85-87-89) and Bernard Gallacher (1991-93-95). The captaincy has changed hands for each edition of the Ryder Cup since, with McGinley installed under rather strange circumstances in January.

He had been in the frame for the job ever since being made Britain and Ireland captain against Continental Europe in the Seve Trophy in 2009. However he faced competition, first from Darren Clarke who later ruled himself out, and secondly in the days before the appointment when Montgomerie came into the equation. Rory McIlroy said the old selection process, was not adequately taking the views of current cup players into account.