Given there were probably remote tribes in the jungles of Sarawak that had a decent inkling that Darren Clarke would be given the European captaincy for the 2016 Ryder Cup, you had to wonder why it took the five-man panel over two hours to confirm the news most folk were expecting?
Images plonked on an increasingly fevered internet yesterday morning showed Paul McGinley, Jose Maria Olazabal, Colin Montgomerie, George O'Grady and David Howell all sitting sternly around a boardroom table in Wentworth with sheets of paper and pens at the ready. Perhaps they were just poring over the breakfast menus and waiting interminably for Monty to decide whether he'd have poached or scrambled eggs?
There would have been many in the golf scribbling industry left with egg on their faces had Clarke not been unveiled as the new skipper but there would be no earth shattering surprises. It was, according to Montgomerie, a "unanimous decision."
Having commanded the support of the people who matter most in the biennial battle - the players themselves - the 46-year-old's ascension to the role was inevitable. Not to Clarke himself, mind you. "Was I expecting it? No I wasn't because I didn't know what way the committee would vote," he said after becoming the first Northern Irishman to be awarded the position of captain. "Was I hoping it was going to be me? Yes, obviously."
As a veteran of five Ryder Cups as a player and two as a vice-captain, Clarke has seen it, done it and amassed an attic load of officially branded t-shirts. Taking charge of a buoyant European team that has won eight of the last 10 meetings with the USA comes with its own pressures but Clarke is not going to add to the burdens by ringing the changes. It will be very much a case of business as usual. "If you look at the job Paul (McGinley) did at Gleneagles and how successful that event was, then I think it would be silly to move away from that," said the 2011 Open champion who will be attempting to lead Team Europe to an unprecedented fourth successive Ryder Cup victory. "It was so successful and the team bonding was unbelievable. I would also imagine they (the three wildcard picks) would stay the same. I wouldn't foresee any reason why we would want to change them because the system we have in place is a very successful one. It would be foolish of me to ask for any changes. I will obviously consult with other past captains and try to get as much information as I can to what was successful. But the way Paul did things the last time, it will be tough to get any better than that."
Given the fairly frosty relationship between Clarke and McGinley, it's hard to envisage them sitting down and sharing tea and crumpet but the collective European cause is more important than any personal animosity between two men. Unity is strength, after all. In the wake of his triumphant leadership at Gleneagles, McGinley admitted that he wouldn't want to go back to being a vice-captain. Yesterday, he reiterated that sentiment while expressing a willingness to pass on any advice that Clarke may require. "I won't be vice-captain, not for Darren or anybody," said McGinley. "I will give him any support he needs but at the same time it's important I step away too. Darren's now at the front so let him go ahead. It's not necessarily about following me or following Jose or following Monty or anybody who has done it before and won. It's about doing what's best for him and how he sees it."
Clarke's relationship with the Ryder Cup runs deep and his emotional performances in the 2006 match at the K-Club, where he won three points out of three in an event that was staged just six weeks after the death of his wife, provided some of the contest's most enduring images. "What I went through there was the perfect preparation for what I would ever face in the game of golf afterwards," he said. "Emotion is part and parcel of the Ryder Cup, we've seen that before from Seve (Ballesteros) and Jose Maria (Olazabal). I think European teams have been very successful in capturing that emotion and using it for their benefit."
Having lost more stones than a wayward curler with a new fitness regime over the past year, a slim-line Clarke is fighting fit and relishing the challenge. There won't be any wild celebrations to mark his appointment which, at least, should preserve the global Guinness stocks. "The job starts straight away so I've got to behave myself," he added. "And I'll try my best to keep my weight as it is."
That may be tricky. Captain Clarke already has the added weight of European expectation to deal with.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article