The Grove, Watford …
Lee Westwood has returned to competition following an indifferent Ryder Cup showing and clearly targeting being appointed 2020 European Team captain.
Westwood failed to score a point in three Hazeltine matches and the first occasion in 10 straight Ryder Cup appearances for Europe.
The 43-year old Englishman went to Hazeltine looking to eclipse Nick Faldo’s all-time European record scoring feat but instead Westwood found himself dropped by long-time close friend Captain Darren Clarke after teaming with rookie Thomas Pieters after being handed a 5 & 4 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.
England’s Lee Westwood targets being appointed 2020 European Ryder Cup captain. (Photo – European Tour)
And as Westwood began preparations for Thursday’s starting British Masters at The Grove course just north of London and an event he won in 2007, he revealed his European captaincy aspirations for the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
If successful, Westwood would be seemingly ideally suited at 47-years of age.
“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.
“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 Cup’s 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, what goes on behind the scenes, although I paid a lot of attention to what Darren (Clarke) and the assistant captains were doing.
“I don’t think you have to be an assistant captain but it probably helps. It’s another angle to see if 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.”
In Westwood’s favour being handed the 2020 European Team reins is that 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 with Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, as the long-time Chairman of the Tournament Players Committee, the short-priced favourite for Paris.
Sitting on the panel to choose the next European captain will be European Tour CEO, Keith Pelley and the past two European captains in Paul McGinley (2014) and Clarke.
For the 2020 captaincy vote, it will be the Tour’s CEO and along with the immediate past two captains.
