Torrance must build bridges fast

Sam Torrance may feel that the removal of Mark James as his assistant captain for next year's Ryder Cup at The Belfry has put an end to one of the most controversial issues in the history of the event. But if that's what he believes, he is seriously mistaken.

The main cause of the problem, which Torrance identified yesterday as having its root in "certain issues in his (James') recent book", has not gone away. And because of it, the position of the 2001 European captain has been gravely undermined.

It's all there at the bottom of page viii in James' book, where Torrance writes: "It was an honour for me to assist Jesse at Brookline, just as it is to contribute the foreword to Into the Bear Pit." Most reasonable people would interpret those words as an endorsement of what followed in the book itself.

Which means that Torrance didn't have a problem with, for instance, the suggestion by James on page 221 that "I fear there is every chance at The Belfry of there being a backlash against the Americans. Our crowds know what went on; they saw it either firsthand or on television, or they read about it in the newspapers."

When the controversy first broke through the serialisation of the book in the Daily Mail starting on Monday May 29th - the final day of the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth - Torrance laughingly told the media that he hadn't read it. Nor has he made any attempt since then to dissociate himself from its contents.

Indeed no Ryder Cup captain of recent decades has been so strongly supported by his successor. One need go back no further than 1991 to the decidedly ungenerous comments which Tony Jacklin made about Bernard Gallacher as captain of the European side for the ill-fated matches at Kiawah Island.

All of which clearly leaves the Scot compromised. In that context, it is particularly interesting to note the wording of yesterday's statement in which Torrance admits that the removal of James was seen by the Ryder Cup committee as the only solution to the problem.

Yet for a while, it seemed as if the Yorkshireman might ride out the storm, especially when receiving the unanimous support of his colleagues on the Tournament Players' Committee during a meeting at Loch Lomond last month. James seemed even confident he would win the public-opinion battle with Nick Faldo, whom he criticised heavily in the book.

But he seriously miscalculated the public mood, as he did the reaction of influential golfing people such as tournament sponsors. And Torrance was similarly culpable.

If the Scot is to survive, bridges urgently need to be built, notably with regard to the Continental players. The naming of a replacement for James from their ranks would be a useful start, though the obvious candidate, Bernhard Langer, may have aspirations towards returning as a player to next year's side. A call to Seve Ballesteros, who successfully distanced himself from the criticism of James, mightn't be misplaced.

Meanwhile, it is worth remembering that when the controversy was at its height, Paul McGinley was the only European Tour player who saw fit to publicly criticise James for his behaviour, which he did to me at Wentworth. McGinley said: "I think it is sad that the chairman of the Players' Committee of the European Tour should treat the best player Europe has produced with such contempt."

The Dubliner went on: "As someone who represents us, I regret that Mark James should have decided to write a book and launch such a vicious, personal attack on Faldo. It is uncalled for and not something I would expect from an immediate past Ryder Cup captain."

Apart from disapproving of James' behaviour, McGinley had not forgotten a coaching session he had with Faldo as a member of the British and Irish Walker Cup team at Welwyn Garden City in 1991. "I have come to admire him greatly," he said about a relationship which developed over the next few years.

James will now realise that having discharged his duties at Brookline last September in a largely honourable manner, his golfing colleagues and the public at large expected comparable behaviour when he stepped down to the role of assistant captain. The judgment of the Ryder Cup Committee is that he failed to deliver on that expectation and he has now been made to pay the price.