England's David Howell has been named as the final member of the selection panel to choose Europe's next Ryder Cup captain.

The Englishman, who was a member of the victorious European team in 2004 and 2006, was nominated by the European Tour's Tournament Committee at their meeting on Tuesday night ahead of this week's Portugal Masters.

Howell joins the three previous European Ryder Cup captains Paul McGinley, Jose Maria Olazabal and Colin Montgomerie and European Tour chief executive George O'Grady on the five-man panel.

His appointment raises the prospect of Thomas Bjorn, who made a third victorious Ryder Cup appearance at Gleneagles last month having been vice-captain three times, entering the running to be captain at Hazeltine in 2016.

The Dane, as chairman of the Tour Committee, was widely expected to be on the panel but should he decide to throw his name into the reckoning he faces stiff competition.

Northern Irishman Darren Clarke is the early favourite and has the backing of heavyweights like world No.1 Rory McIlroy, nine-time Ryder Cup star Lee Westwood and two-time major winner Martin Kaymer.

Kaymer, however, said last week the reason behind his thinking was that 2016 was too early for the 43-year-old Bjorn as he was playing too well.

The growing campaign behind Clarke also saw Graeme McDowell call for McGinley to put aside differences with the Ulsterman after their friendship cooled when Clarke supported Montgomerie for the Gleneagles captaincy. European Tour veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez, vice-captain for the last two Ryder Cups, is also a contender and would have the backing of the miracle of Medinah mastermind Olazabal.

It is expected a decision on the 2016 captain will be made early next year.

n Defending champion David Lynn is looking for some inspiration as he returns to the scene of his last victory. Since winning the Portugal Masters at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Club in Vilamoura 12 months ago the 40-year-old's best finish was joint-21st at the Omega European Masters a month ago. "You see the shots you were hitting last year and relive those moments," said Lynn. "I am hoping there is going to be some sort of inspiration again to get me going.

"I suppose there is a little bit of extra pressure [as defending champion] but every week comes with its own pressure as you put pressure on yourself so I'd like to perform again this week. If I can find a bit of inspiration from last year and crack on maybe I could go back to back."