Furyk set to be named as US Ryder Cup skipper

The 46-year-old, who was assistant to Davis Love for last year’s victory at Hazeltine, appears to have been given the nod by the US Ryder Cup committee, which included Love as well as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Confirmation is expected later today.

Furyk has appeared in nine events as a player and his main rival for the job was Fred Couples, who wanted the captaincy for 2016 but was passed over in favour of Love.

Continuity, and the desire to stick to a plan crafted after weeks of consultation by the US Ryder Cup Task Force about how to overturn Europe’s dominance in the run up to Hazeltine, appears to have worked in Furyk’s favour. His experience of a position on the backroom staff is a significant factor, even though Couples has captained a winning Presidents Cup team three times.

Last month Furyk said: “It really helped to be an assistant for Davis.

“Any time you can do this, you’re learning. You’re going to make some mistakes, you’re going to do some things right.

“We did a lot of good things that week. We made some mistakes and we’ll learn from them and keep building on the system.”

Europe have already named Thomas Bjorn as their captain for the encounter at Le Golf National just outside Paris.

Meanwhile, world No 2 Rory McIlroy begins the new year having not yet decided on what clubs he will play — but he insists the player rather than the equipment is more important.

The Northern Irishman is among a number of top stars who have been forced into a change following Nike’s withdrawal from the club manufacturing market.

McIlroy has been testing a number of options and will start this week’s BMW SA Open with Callaway woods and irons, Titleist wedges and balls and a Scotty Cameron putter.

He has been here before, however. In 2013 he struggled for form immediately after changing clubs as part of signing a multi-million pound deal with Nike.

However, the four-time Major winner said his set-up could change on a regular basis until he settles on a favourite combination.

“They are picked for this week but that could change,” he said. “This is my first event with those clubs so we will see how it goes this week.

“You never know until you have a card in your hand. At the end of the day, the person swinging the club is more important than the club itself.”

McIlroy is playing for the first time since finishing ninth at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai and, even on his arrival in South Africa, he chose to spend four days on safari before heading to the tournament, hosted by Ernie Els, at Glendower Golf Club in Gauteng.

JIM Furyk (right) looks set to be named Ryder Cup captain for the United States’ defence of the trophy in France in 2018.