Lee Westwood has set his sights on being appointed European captain for the 2020 Ryder Cup despite his poor showing in his team’s recent defeat against the United States. Westwood failed to score a point in three matches at Hazeltine in the most disappointing of his 10 Ryder Cup appearances.
The 43-year old Englishman went to the US looking to eclipse Nick Faldo’s all-time European record scoring feat. But instead Westwood found himself dropped by skipper Darren Clarke after teaming with rookie Thomas Pieters and being handed a 5 & 4 defeat by Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar in the opening day Foursomes.
It was Westwood’s second biggest defeat since making his Ryder Cup debut in 1997. And as Westwood began preparations for today’s British Masters at The Grove, just north of London, he revealed his European captaincy aspirations for the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
“I certainly would not want to be captain next time around, as that’s too soon for me, so I think 2020 is definitely on my radar,” he said yesterday. “After that, 2022, who knows. There are a lot of candidates for the captaincy but I’ll be putting my name in the ring for sure. It’s something I’d like to do. I’ve played in 10 Ryder Cups and witnessed 10 different forms of captaincy, so I’m pretty well qualified to be a captain I would have thought. I’ve played in a lot of teams and I’d like to maybe play again but if I can’t play again, I’d like to do the assistant captain’s role. I don’t think you have to be an assistant captain (first) but it probably helps.It’s another angle to see it from, more experience. And there won’t be any people that would have played under 10 different captains because there’s not many who have played 10 Ryder Cups.”
One factor possibly in Westwood’s favour for 2020 is that his close friend Clarke will be a member of the three-man selection panel that should sit in early 2019 to choose the Whistling Straits captain. The process of electing the 2018 European captain will take place early next year and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, the long-time Chairman of the Tournament Players Committee, is the short-priced favourite for Paris. Sitting on the panel to choose the next European captain will be European Tour CEO Keith Pelley, former European skipper Paul McGinley and Clarke.

Olazabal ready to
end long injury absence
Former Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal is set to return to the European Tour after an 18-month injury absence. Olazabal will tee off in the British Masters today, as the Spaniard competes for the first time since missing the halfway cut at the 2015 Masters.
Since captaining Europe to victory in the 2014 Ryder Cup, the 50-year old has contested just six events due to struggles with rheumatoid arthritis in his joints. But after spending the past five weeks practising in San Sebastian, Spain, Olazabal is quitely optimistic of playing all four rounds.
“The last two weeks, I have played six rounds on my home course and that’s about all I could manage,” he said. “So it’s going to be nice to get a score-card back into my pocket this week, but it could depend on the numbers if it’s going to be a decent week. I am feeling better but I’m still not 100% fit. The pain is not so bad now, as it gets a bit painful from time to time, but that’s just getting old. So I am going to play this week and next week’s Portugal Masters and see how it goes.”
Among the first to greet Olazabal with a big hug on The Grove practice range was Westwood, who had won two of three Ryder Cup matches in 2012 under Olazabal’s captaincy at Medinah.
And after watching the recent Ryder Cup on television, Olazabal declared the US simply played the better golf. “I watched every single shot in the Ryder Cup and the Americans just played better than we did,” he said.
“The way that Davis (Love 111) had the golf course set-up meant it was always going to be hard for Europe to win. There was just no rough out there and someone saying to me that there were five eagles and 72 birdies during the singles and not all matches went the full 18-hole distance. The Europeans can hold their heads high but they just came up against a red-hot American side who holed more putts.”