Paul McGinley’s handling as captain of the GB & I Vivendi Seve Trophy side later next month (SEPT) in Versailles will be pivotal in tipping the 2014 Ryder Cup Captaincy scales in his favour.

That’s the view of Jose Maria Olazabal who chose McGinley to defend the Vivendi Seve Trophy after the Irishman led GB & I to a five point success in the event two years ago.

While Olazabal’s choice of Jean Van Velde at Continental captain is praiseworthy, Olazabal knows selecting McGinley has wider inference.

Van de Velde was selected to lead the Continentals to help boost local interest in the event.

However in 13 months, Olazabal will be at the helm as Europe seek to retain the Ryder Cup competition and in asking McGinley to stay on as GB & I team leader, the Spaniard is eager to assess how McGinley again performs in a leadership role ahead of the likelihood of asking the Dubliner to be one of his Medinah vice-captains.

“Paul undertook the Vivendi captaincy last time and he is the defending champion, and besides we all saw also what a fantastic job he did as vice-captain to Monty at Celtic Manor,” said Olazabal.

“So I thought it only natural that Paul be asked to captain the side again.

“To be honest I chose Jean because to have a French born captain is going to help the tournament, and at the same time he has been a Ryder Cup player.

“Also in choosing Jean it will help those other French players like Thomas Levet, Raphael Jacquelin and Greg (Havret) to try and make the team.

“Selecting Paul was an easy choice, and he was pleased to accept the position.

“But we all saw that he did such a good job of inspiring his Vivendi team last time, and I know he will do a good job again in leading his team.”

Naturally, Olazabal was not about to confirm McGinley as one of his vice-captains but his reappointment as a Vivendi Trophy team leader, along with Olazabal being close to McGinley throughout last year’s winning Ryder Cup campaign, certainly has McGinley at the forefront of being one of his Medinah vice-captain’s.

And if McGinley went to Medinah t would also greatly boost McGinley’s chances of leading Europe into competition in 2014 at Gleneagles.

“I am getting asked a lot about 2012 and the fact is there is still one year to go, and whether or not Paul is a vice-captain or not will depend on how the players play and who qualifies for the team,” said Olazabal.