Golf:Speculation is mounting that 63-year-old Tom Watson will be named tomorrow to lead America's Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles in 2014. If true, the five-time British Open champion would become their oldest-ever captain. Sam Snead was 57 when he did the job in 1969.
The United States, though, have lost five of the last six matches and their only success on European soil in the last 31 years came in 1993 — with Watson in charge. While not confirming that the Professional Golfers’ Association of America had been in touch with him, Watson said in Australia at the weekend: “It would be a great honour if I got tapped on the shoulder.
“I’d like to go back as captain. That would be cool.”
He has not even attended a match since he was captain, however, and to hand him the position again would be seen as a huge gamble — especially as he has been critical in the past of Tiger Woods’s behaviour. After Woods fell from grace following a sex scandal in 2008 Watson said: “I feel that he has not carried the same stature as the other great players that have come along like Jack [Nicklaus], Byron Nelson, [Ben] Hogan in the sense that there was bad language and club throwing on the golf course.
“You can grant that to somebody, a young person, that has not been out there for a while, but I think he needs to clean up his act and show the respect for the game that the people before him have shown.”
The PGA of America have appointed captains for one match only since Jack Nicklaus served for a second time in 1987 on his own course at Muirfield Village, a match that ended with Europe achieving their first-ever away win. Davis Love was in charge in Chicago in September, but the United States suffered a one-point defeat after leading 10-4 earlier in the contest.
David Toms was thought of as the likeliest man to take over, but PGA of America president Ted Bishop fuelled the speculation about Watson by saying yesterday: “I’m looking forward to Thursday because I think we’ve done something a little bit different. The role of the PGA of America in naming a Ryder Cup captain should not be to name somebody to reward them for their previous playing experiences. We need to look for captains that are going to put our team in the best position to win it.
“We’re tired of losing. And whether it’s him (Watson) or its somebody else, that’s what our mission is.”
