Darren Clarke remains a firm favourite for the 2016 Europe Ryder Cup captaincy and Graeme McDowell is the latest player to add his voice to those supporting his fellow Northern Irishman.
McDowell's backing comes hot on the heels of Padraig Harrington, having stated: "Darren deserves it given he's done so much for European golf." There can be no denying Clarke's credentials: he was on four of the five victorious Ryder Cup teams between 1997 and 2006 and a vice-captain in 2010 and 2012.
If player power helped deliver Paul McGinley the 2014 captaincy then a similar players push would surely ensure Clarke is handed the reins of the Europe team at Hazeltine.
McDowell described him as an "obvious pick" and said: "I have been speaking to Thomas [Bjorn] about 2016, but he's of the opinion that he can still make the team and it seems Thomas maybe sees himself a candidate for 2018 in France. There's also Miguel [Angel Jimenez], who would have to be considered, but I believe Darren's got the credentials.
"Unlike in past years, Europe seems to have this clear window for 2016 as far as selecting Darren is concerned but, for 2018 and beyond, you then will have contenders stacking up with the likes of Bjorn, Miguel, Harrington and [Lee] Westwood in the mix.
"As for 2018, Padraig's credentials would suggest he's the guy to replace Darren, which could make it three Irish-born captains in a row. Then you've got candidates like Poults [Ian Poulter], Luke Donald, Sergio [Garcia], Rosie [Justin Rose] and my good self in the mix for the mid to late-2020s."
The 2016 Ryder Cup captain will be decided by a new-look voting panel comprising the past three captains, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal and McGinley, along with European Tour chief executive George O'Grady and players' committee representative David Howell, at a meeting in January during the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
McDowell was commenting after posting a 69 to move to eight under par and tied with Shane Lowry, who added a 66, after two rounds of the BMW Masters in Shanghai. Nicolas Colsaerts leads on 14 under after shooting a 64 under the continuing 'preferred lie' rule.
Richie Ramsay is the best of the Scots, having shot 68 to move into a share of 17th place on six under. Stephen Gallacher is on three under, one ahead of Marc Warren.
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