Stricker set to be confirmed as US Ryder Cup captain

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON will go head-to head with Steve Stricker at next year’s Ryder Cup with the 51-year-old set to be confirmed as the US captain tomorrow.

Stricker, who is from Wisconsin, will assume the honour in his home state at Whistling Straits as America tries to make amends for their drubbing in Paris five months ago.

The news will not come as a shock to European captain Harrington. Stricker has been an assistant captain in the last three matches and took the American helm, successfully, at the Presidents Cup two years ago.

The former world No 2 is a confidante of Tiger Woods and, on occasion, has acted as an unofficial putting coach for the 14-time Major winner.

He is a very popular character on tour and, although unassuming, he commands the respect of the locker room and will be seen as the perfect adversary for Harrington.

Meanwhile, JB Holmes has defended himself against accusations of slow play during his Genesis Open triumph, winning by oneshotonSunday.

Holmes saw off a high-quality leaderboard including Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods but his first victory in three years was tainted by the snail-like pace, which at one stage saw him take almost two minutes over a putt.

“When I first got out here I was really slow, but I’ve sped up quite a bit,” he said. “I was never on the clock. Never even got a warning. TV wants everything to be real fast all the time.”

Dundalk’s Caolan Rafferty led the way for the Irish as eight of the nine-strong GUI party qualified for the match play stages of the South African Amateur Championship.

Rafferty added a six-under 66 to his opening 69 to finish tied second with Stals Swart on nine-under at King David Mowbray GC, just one behind leading qualifier Luca Filippi. (© Daily Telegraph, London)