Unlike U.S., Europe has Ryder Cup choice

Europe will decide today whether Colin Montgomerie or Jose Maria Olazabal will be its Ryder Cup captain in 2010, a choice the Americans didn't have this year.

Two months ago, before appointing Corey Pavin to lead the U.S. team in Wales, PGA of America chief executive Joe Steranka was cool to the idea of Paul Azinger returning as Captain America because he said there were not enough Ryder Cups for all the candidates.

But if the PGA didn't want Azinger again, Pavin was the only serious candidate.

Davis Love III took himself out of the running because he wants to play on the next team. David Toms and Jim Furyk are too young. Larry Nelson is too old. Given the U.S. model for selecting captains - a former major champion in his late 40s with Ryder Cup passion and experience - try to find anyone else other than Pavin even remotely qualified.

Mark Calcavecchia? Lee Janzen?

Picking a captain used to be quite simple for Europe, which had only two captains from 1983-95 - Tony Jacklin and Bernard Gallacher - while seizing control of the biennial exhibition.

Now, the players who helped Europe capture the Ryder Cup eight times in 11 matches are lining up to be captain. And that has created the kind of dilemma America used to have - more captains than there were cups.

No one was a greater victim than Nelson, a Vietnam veteran who won three majors and nearly 75 percent of his Ryder Cup matches. He is the only player to go 5-0 in a single Ryder Cup. Also left out was Mark O'Meara, although his assertion that the Ryder Cup was all about revenue hurt his chances more than anything.

Montgomerie lobbied for Sandy Lyle, a fellow Scot, until it became clear that the selection committee was more interested in him. Then, what looked like a logical choice suddenly turned cloudy last week when two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal - among the most respected figures among European players - changed his mind and said he would like to be captain.