BRIAN KEOGH: Clarke may be forced to eat words

The age old adage that you should be careful what you wish for is certainly holding true for Darren Clarke, just eight months after what was described as an “unseemly” politicking for the Ryder Cup captaincy.

While he will always claim that he was merely looking after the interests of the tour in publicly questioning moves to appoint Paul McGinley and recommending that Colin Montgomerie be given serious consideration, Clarke’s opposition to his former team mate has had a knock-on effect. It’s cost him the Seve Trophy captaincy of the Great Britain and Ireland team later this year.

Bereft of support in the committee room when the jostling for the 2014 captaincy began in earnest, Clarke withdrew his name from consideration and claimed he wanted to concentrate on making the playing team.