Golf:Paul McGinley has a chance to further his claims to the Ryder Cup captaincy in 2014 after being put in charge of the Britain and Ireland team again for the Vivendi Seve Trophy in Paris from September 15th to 18th.
The 44-year-old Dubliner, who led the side to a five-point victory on the same St-Nom-la-Breteche course two years ago, will be up against a Continental Europe team captained this time by Jean Van de Velde.
In 2009 it was Thomas Bjorn in charge, but after winning the Qatar Masters earlier this season the Dane is all set to return to a playing role.
Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal was given the task of choosing the two captains and he admitted earlier this month that Darren Clarke was among those under consideration to lead Britain and Ireland until he won The British Open at Sandwich.
With the event clashing with the FedEx Cup play-offs in America it remains to be seen how many stars turn down a match which carries extra significance this year following the death of Seve Ballesteros, in whose honour it was first added to the European Tour schedule in 2000.
McGinley, one of Colin Montgomerie’s vice-captains in last October’s victory at Celtic Manor, said: “It’s a great honour to be invited back as captain. I enjoyed it enormously last time.
“I’m looking forward to going up against Jean and it’s good to have a Frenchman involved on French soil because that’s important for the future of the tournament.
“With the excitement of France being awarded the Ryder Cup (in 2018), I’m sure the event will be well supported.
“Obviously with Seve’s sad passing earlier this year, there will be added poignancy, particularly with Jose Maria being involved.
“Two years ago Seve was in our thoughts, both in the team room and outside. I’m sure he’ll be looking down on us and hopefully we can put on an event worthy of him.”
The biennial contest was instigated by Ballesteros in 2000 as a team competition to be contested in non-Ryder Cup years, with Continental Europe winning the first edition at Sunningdale in England.
Druids Glen staged the event in 2002 when Britain and Ireland won under Montgomerie and they have won the four tournaments since, including at The Heritage in Laois in 2007.
The event comprises two teams of 10 players, who play fourballs, Scotch foursomes, foursomes and singles over the four days.
Qualification for the teams began at the Dunhill Championship in December of last year and finishes after the Omega European Masters on September 4th.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)