Sergio Garcia believes Miguel Angel Jimenez is unlikely to be in the running to become the European team captain for the 2016 Ryder Cup as he does not speak English well enough. It would leave the door open for Darren Clarke to be appointed as successor to Paul McGinley.
Unlike the debate which continues to surround the United States team, the vote for the 2016 European Team captaincy now appears to be a clear choice between Northern Irishman Clarke and Jimenez, the European Tour's oldest champion.
However, Garcia - a veteran of seven Ryder Cups and a vice-captain for Europe in 2010 - believes the five-man committee to choose a successor to McGinley may rule out Jimenez given the Spaniard's poor grasp of the English language.
"While Darren and Miguel are both good candidates I am just concerned for Miguel, and worried that his English is not good enough to deal with all the pressure that goes with being a European captain," said Garcia of his compatriot. "I know Miguel's been a good Ryder Cup player and he's also been a great Ryder Cup vice-captain but becoming a captain is different.
"From the time you get appointed there is more than a year-and-a-half of activities, engagements, interviews and so on a new captain has
to deal with. So it's important that everyone he speaks to over that long period understands exactly what he is saying because sometimes words can be misinterpreted. Being a Ryder Cup captain is being the spokesman for the Tour and so on, and then when the competition gets underway there are so many speeches.
"English is not his first language and you can try to say something and it comes out so different compared to speaking in Spanish."
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