Bjorn to name Westwood and Harrington as vice-captains
Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington will be announced as Ryder Cup vice-captains at Wentworth today as Europe captain Thomas Bjorn takes a huge step in forming his back-room team for September’s match near Paris.
Bjorn already has the Swede Robert Karlsson in his corner and, now that they are both seemingly resigned to not making Le Golf National as players, Westwood and Harrington are obvious picks to assist the Dane in his mission to win back the cup and ensure Europe do not lose on home soil for the first time in 25 years.
Of course, both Westwood and Harrington could enjoy a dramatic upturn in form in the forthcoming months and the locker-room door will remain open.
However, with both outside the world’s top 100, the time is right for Bjorn to get the pair officially on side and the famed Surrey course is the ideal place to unveil two highprofile appointments, particularly in the week it hosts the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship.
Westwood swapping his clubs for a buggy will signify the end of a remarkable career as one of Europe’s most consistent and prolific playing stalwarts. The 45-year-old has appeared in 10 consecutive matches since making his debut in 1997 and, in this blue-and-gold era of dominance, has been on the winning team a record seven times.
With 23 points earned, only Sir Nick Faldo (25), Bernhard Langer (24) and Colin Montgomerie (23½) have contributed more.
Despite playing only once in the past 12 weeks, Westwood is not planning on retiring any time soon, but the former world No 1 has made no secret of his desire to be Europe captain. So, too, has Harrington and it is possible even this far out to see these two as the main challengers to succeed Bjorn for the 2020 encounter at Whistling Straits, with Scotland’s Paul Lawrie another strong candidate.
This will be Harrington’s third successive stint as a vice-captain, with the three-time major champion having appeared in six teams as a player.
Harrington, 46, has slipped to 227th in the world and has missed six of eight cuts this year.
Bjorn could also name a fourth assistant today and it would be no surprise if it was a Frenchman, to afford the camp a Gallic mouthpiece. By the time the biennial dustup tees off on Sept 28, Bjorn could have as many as five vice-captains.
Jim Furyk, the US captain, has already named Davis Love, Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker as assistants.