The over-looked Gleneagles captaincy candidates Paul Lawrie and Colin Montgomerie have promised to extend Ireland’s Paul McGinley every support ahead of the 2014 Ryder Cup. 

Lawrie was surprisingly in the discussion mix at Tuesday night’s Players Committee meeting in Abu Dhabi Regis Hotel to choose a new European Team captain. 

The 12-man committee discussed the merits of Lawrie, Monty and Sandy Lyle along with Spain’s Miguel Jimenez. 

It’s been revealed Lawrie had been approached by former Tour player, Jamie Spence and now working on the Tour as a player liaison official, during last December’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship regarding the captaincy. 

“I said ‘No’ to Jamie as I was going to concentrate on being a player,” said Lawrie. 

So Lawrie was really never in the captaincy vote until he had been approached by Committee chairman, Thomas Bjorn on the putting green last weekend in Durban where the pair was contesting the Volvo Champions 

However by now Lawrie had a huge change of heart and with the former Open Champion indicated to Bjorn ‘Yes’ he would be interested, if nominated. 

And Lawrie was nominated during the meeting but with Paul McGinley being voted unanimously. 

“They asked if I would like to be considered, and I said there was no harm if the committee thought I was the man for the job then I would take it,” added  Lawrie. 

“So I wouldn’t have said ‘No’, and I don’t think anyone would say ‘No’. I wasn’t expecting it, but if they felt I was the guy to do it I would have done it. 

“I’d love to be in the team, but the captain’s the big job, especially at Gleneagles but then had I been offered it I’d loved to have been the captain. 

“But in saying that they’ve gone with the right guy. McGinley has served his time. He’s been Seve Trophy and vice-captain quite a few times. 

“Paul will bring a lot of enthusiasm and hard work to the role, so I hope I’m in his team.

 “Obviously now the idea is to get in as a player, and if I don’t get in as a player we’ll see what falls, but if there’s nothing there’s nothing. My main goal now is to get in as a player.” 

McGinley yesterday (WED) revealed he was totally surprised with Monty’s outspoken moves in again seeking the captaincy. 

“I was surprised as Monty said quite clearly that he was not going to go again,” he  said McGinley and revealed he has received some 350 text messages of congratulations. 

“But having said that he was totally within his rights to change his mind. I had no problem with it. He said some really nice things to me in the corridor when the decision was made. I know he will be very supportive of me and the European team.”

Monty had his claims for second European Team captaincy in three Ryder Cups derailed immediately with an overwhelming vote in favour of the Dublin-born McGinley.

“I never proposed myself and it was flattering to be proposed again,” said Monty.

“You usually only do this once and it was nice to be proposed by fellow players. It was great.

“We’ll all get behind Paul now. We wish him well. He was a very good vice captain. I appointed him as Seve Trophy captain with Thomas Bjorn in 2009 and he did a very good job. And he has done a very good job as two vice captains.

And while Lawrie sets his heart on qualifying automatically for Gleneagles the fact he was a captain’s nominee on Tuesday night will put him seriously in the mix for the 2016 captaincy when he will be the Ryder Cup leadership right age of 47, and the same age as McGinley when he leads his team out onto Gleneagles.

“I would want to be captain in future years, absolutely. Who wouldn’t want to be captain?,” said Lawrie.

“But I like to think I have one more Ryder Cup in me as a player, and after that we’ll see what happens.

“It’s fantastic what it means to McGinley. He has set his stall out, he wants to be the captain, and he has learned his trade, he has done his bit, and I think he will be fantastic.

“I know Paul has got a book that has a lot of stuff in it.  He had it in Medinah.  But at the end of the day, no matter how many notes you’ve got, it’s the players that can win it or lose it.

“Even so the captain’s got an important role in being prepared. Good luck to him. I hope he does really well.”

But then Lawrie had a word of comfort for Scotland’s forgotten Ryder Cup star, Sandy Lyle, and believing the double Major winner will go down in Tour history as one of Europe’s greatest-ever players never to have captained a Ryder Cup team.

“Maybe it’s Sandy’s last chance, and he seems like he is the best player not to have had it,” said Lawrie.

 And Lawrie is very much in favour of McGinley’s immediate intentions to bring a distinctive ‘Scottish theme’ despite the fact the Ryder Cup is obviously being staged at a course in the heart of Scotland, and also as it will the first time in 43 years since Muirfield hosted the 1973 Ryder Cup. 

However Lawrie is hoping that will also extend to Scottish-born vice-captains. 

“It’s a great idea as it’s in Scotland and it would make sense also to have a couple of guys beside him that are Scottish,” he said.