European Ryder Cup captain to be announced in May

Sam Torrance‘s successor as European Ryder Cup captain will be announced no earlier than May 22 next year.

Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer are the favourites to take over for the contest at Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan on September 26-28, 2004.

But with the qualifying period not starting until September 2003 and the qualifying process still to be decided, there is no rush to name American skipper Hal Sutton‘s opposite number.

Mitchell Platts, spokesman for the Ryder Cup Board, said: “The time scale has been set in order that the constitution of the new Ryder Cup Board can be determined prior to the meetings between the PGA European Tour Board of Directors, the Tournament Committee and the Ryder Cup Board, which will take place during the week of the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth Club on May 22-25.

“There are a number of important issues to be confirmed, including the selection process for the 2004 European Team that will, in part, be based on a variation of the Official World Golf Ranking system, and all matters will continue to be discussed through to the meetings in May.”

The situation is further complicated by the fact that both Woosnam and Langer may still try and qualify to play on the 12-man team themselves.

If one of the pair succeeds, it has been suggested the other would be given the captaincy, with the non-qualifier as vice captain.

Torrance yesterday revealed there would definitely be changes to the qualification process.

The Scot’s victorious team at the Belfry in September was made up of 10 automatic qualifiers from the Order of Merit-based points table, and two wild cards.

However, with more of Europe’s top players spending more time on the USPGA tour, many leading figures – including 2006 captaincy candidates Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie – are in favour of changes.

The most likely option is for five players to be taken from the Order of Merit and five from the world rankings, with two wild cards.

Torrance is a member of the European Tour’s tournament committee which discussed the proposals earlier this week, and he said: “I can assure you there will be changes and it will benefit our team.

“I had to leave out Jose Maria Olazabal to pick the world number five, Sergio Garcia. That can’t be right.

“With so many now playing over there (America), you really need more from the world rankings.”