James's position in the balance

Neil Coles will be in the chair for a Ryder Cup meeting today at Wentworth, which will effectively decide the future of Mark James as Europe's vice-captain for the 2001 matches at The Belfry. And ultimately, James's future may rest the man who appointed him.

"I think we'll take our lead from Sam Torrance," said Coles. "I would have thought that whether Mark should stand down or not, would be Sam's decision. Though we have the power to overrule, I don't think we would exercise it."

This is the meeting that the Ryder Cup committee refused to bring forward, despite a perceived crisis of confidence in James, arising out of revelations in his recently-published book "Into the Bear Pit", about his role as the 1999 Ryder Cup captain.

Among other things, the book contained a bitter attack on fellow tournament professional, Nick Faldo.

It will be recalled that when the European Tour's tournament committee discussed the issue at Loch Lomond three weeks ago, James received a ringing 10-0 endorsement from his peers. The composition of the Ryder Cup committee, however, indicates that they would be certain to take a less conciliatory view. The committee comprises Coles, John O'Leary and Angel Gallardo from the PGA European Tour and Phil Weaver, David Huish and Jim Christine from the PGA.

The role of chairman alternates between Coles and Weaver but the European Tour man will be in the chair on this occasion.

Meanwhile, Torrance will be present at the meeting along with European Tour officials Ken Schofield and George O'Grady and PGA executive director, Sandy Jones. Whatever their views on James, the committee are placed in a rather tricky situation insofar as they cannot censure the vice-captain without undermining the position of Torrance, whom they appointed in the hope of restoring good relations with the Americans, after the bitterness of Brookline.

The bitterness of last September has also been evident in recent weeks among disenchanted Europeans such as Bernhard Langer and Jean Van de Velde who were not present at the Loch Lomond meeting.

And Faldo has returned to the US without making peace with James, which was supposed to happen at the British Open two weeks ago.

On the face of it, the James issue should concern the European Tour more than the PGA, for the negative reactions it has brought from major sponsors, including Michael Smurfit.

But The Belfry officials may take the view that James's behaviour has brought the game into disrepute and seriously damaged the possibility of a peaceful clash with the Americans next year.

With Tom Lehman, a likely member of the 2001 American team, accusing James of "dragging the Ryder Cup through the muck", the prospects of peace would hardly be bright were the status quo to be maintained.

Then there is the possibility of a revised edition of the best-selling book being produced in the wake of next year's matches.

The committee may decide to do nothing and hope that given time, the matter will simply go away. But that would be to seriously underestimate Faldo's determination to have what he perceives as a serious injustice, put right. Against that background, James may be prevailed upon to do the decent thing and resign.