One green hat after another has been tossed into the ring in what should be an intriguing contest to determine who will captain the European Ryder Cup team at The K Club in 2006; but it is the not-so-gentle landing of one with a St Andrews Cross, thrown by Colin Montgomerie, which could yet have most impact.
Although Des Smyth, Christy O'Connor Jnr, Eamonn Darcy and Ronan Rafferty have all indicated their desire to captain the team when the match is played on Irish soil for the first time, Montgomerie - who would have to wait until he was 51 in 2014 for Scotland next scheduled hosting of the event - has revealed in an interview in The Scotsman that the notion also holds great appeal for him, especially because of the affinity he has established with Irish golf supporters.
"Should that opportunity arise and someone did ask me to captain the side in Ireland, then I would regard it as a fantastic honour. I suppose some people will say that it is far too early and that I should still be playing in 2006. But if I am going to be a captain then I want to be in touch with the players. I do believe that the younger the team captain, the better it is for the side," said Montgomerie.
"The team itself is getting younger and it is important to relate to players such as Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Thomas Bjorn and Padraig Harrington, who would all still be in the side in 2006, as well as looking to the young guys, such as Luke Donald and Paul Casey, who will be coming through. It would be an asset, I think, for a captain to still be playing with those golfers and understand where they're coming from," he insisted.
As a four-time winner of the Irish Open, Montgomerie - who will captain the Britain and Ireland team in the Seve Ballesteros Trophy at Druids Glen next April - believes he would be a very acceptable choice should a non-Irish captain be picked for 2006.
Unlike the Seve Trophy, however, when he will be a playing captain, Montgomerie has ruled out any possibility of combining the two roles in the Ryder Cup. Were he offered the captain's job in 2006, he would stand down as a player.
"The Scots and the Irish have always got on well over the years and if there is any country where I feel a special affinity with the galleries, apart from my homeland, it is in Ireland," he explained.
"I've been fortunate to have a very good level of success in Ireland but the support I received when I won this year's Irish Open at Fota Island was unbelievable, even though I beat two Irishmen into second place. The Irish love their sport and if an opportunity arose in 2006 then I would be very happy to accept."
He would not see captaining the team as ending his chances of playing again. "There is no reason why I could not put my hat back into the ring as a player in 2008," he added.
There is no God-given right that an Irishman should be the captain in 2006, although there was an emotional and understandable acceptance that Ballesteros, a Spaniard, should be the captain at Valderrama. Indeed, there was a previous suggestion that Ian Woosnam might be interested in the role at Straffan, but that was before Wales won the right to stage the event in 2010. Woosie is likely to bide his time until then before chasing the captain's job.
Nobody can question the capabilities of the Irish players who have thrown their hats into the ring. However, the most salient point made by Montgomerie is that a captain needs to be in touch with the players and, by 2006, the three strongest Irish contenders for the job will all be well immersed in the Seniors' Tour.
It could yet be that the Irish connection with the captaincy at the K Club will come through a vice-captain's role . . . with the captaincy going to some younger player with an affinity for this country, in which case few could quibble with the choice of Montgomerie.
