Europe seeing double!

HARRINGTON FIRST, THEN WESTWOOD AS RYDER CUP CAPTAIN

Padraig Harrington and Lee Westwood are such nailed-on certainties to be the next two European ryder Cup captains that consideration will be given to making a joint announcement in the new year.

The illustrious pair will partner outgoing incumbent Thomas Bjorn in the first round of the Sky Sports British Masters at Walton Heath today and the dane — one of five people who will decide on his immediate successor in 2020 — gave his blessing to the idea of a double declaration.

‘When you think that Padraig is a three-time major champion and all that Lee has done in the ryder Cup, i think we can all agree they should both do the job some time,’ said Bjorn, who selected both as vicecaptains in Paris.

‘What’s important is they both want to do the job. i can see why a double appointment would work if that was considered the best way to proceed.’

alongside Bjorn, the quartet who will decide on who succeeds him are the previous two captains — darren Clarke and Paul Mcginley — plus the European Tour’s chief executive Keith Pelley and a representative of the players’ committee who has yet to be announced. There are reasons of protocol as to why Westwood shouldn’t be declared at the same time, given that Mcginley will no longer be part of the selection committee for 2022 — his place will be taken by the 2020 captain — and the identity of the players’ representative could also change.

But Westwood’s credentials are so strong for the next home ryder Cup it is hard to imagine anyone else putting their name forward, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was announced at the same time. as for when Harrington (right), at the very least, will be formally declared, that is likely to be in January or February.

Bjorn is still in a fine mood, just ten days on from leading Europe to victory.

‘You might even see me smile this week,’ said the notoriously stern-faced 47-year-old. ‘Shooting 64 or 84 is not going to make much difference at this moment in time. i’m going to enjoy 2018 for all the good things it brought.’ Sporting a rather different mindset this week will be the Moliwood boys, Frankie Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood. Following on from their smash hit partnership in Paris, they will play together for the first two rounds — but Fleetwood, at least, is keen to add some spice to their bromance. The Englishman is trailing his italian friend by a large margin in the race to dubai and suggested a little trash-talking might be necessary to help close the gap. ‘Ooh, i can’t wait,’ said Molinari, smiling, when told the news. ‘do i need to give him a bit of the cold shoulder and see if he can take it?’ in a more serious vein, Fleetwood can draw on personal experience as he seeks to catch The Open champion and hang on to his dubai title. Last year, Justin rose came from much further back at this stage and almost caught Fleetwood on the line. He said: ‘it’s kind of the opposite to last year where i led for most of the time, but the goal now is to win at least one of these events coming up and to give myself a chance going into the final event in dubai next month.’ as for the trash-talking, Fleetwood got his first dig in early. after spending a couple of days at home with his young son Frankie, he looked forward to time with the golfing Frankie and quipped: ‘i don’t know which one is smaller.’ The tournament host this week is world No2 Justin rose, who may have wished for an afternoon tee-time today after falling victim to a stomach bug. He is due on at 8.20am alongside two former winners of this title — Paul dunne and fellow Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick.