European Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer has given his full commitment to leading the team next year in America, though he insisted yesterday he still had a right to play if he was good enough for the team.
Langer had read Nick Faldo's comments in newspapers criticising him for leaving the captaincy in the air by saying he would wait to see if his form got him into the team and, if so, hand over the reins.
Langer said in a news conference last month in Munich he had "not ruled out" playing if he were to have a "brilliant" season and looked like qualifying, although he would not leave it late to make his decision.
"I am fully committed to being captain," said Langer. "I chose to be considered for the captaincy and I'm working hard to do all I should to carry out my duties.
"If another situation arises in 10 months' time, then we will worry about it when it happens."
Langer, though, was adamant he had a right to play if he had a good enough season. "It has always been this way. If a captain qualifies he should have the option to play. What would people say if I were number one qualifier and didn't play?"
He referred to 1999 captain Mark James's quandary when the Englishman was still in touch with qualifying until late into the campaign.
European Tour executive director Ken Schofield, present at Langer's new conference yesterday, warned against not giving potential captains the option of playing.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)