Watson’s appointment may be just what United States needs

YOU KNOW a masterstroke has been pulled off when everybody is asking themselves “why didn’t I think of that?”

There are a lot of in-the-know golf correspondents out there, our own esteemed Steve Scott among them, but I can’t recall any suggesting Tom Watson should be the next United States Ryder Cup captain.

Now that it has happened though, it looks like a blindingly obvious and sensible appointment. David Toms or Tom Watson? Go through the tick list and I challenge you to find any category in the job description where Toms would emerge the winner.

The exception of course is the old chestnut about still having at least one golf shoe on the main tour, the implication being the closer in age you are to the players you’ll be leading, the better the captain you’ll turn out to be.

After Gleneagles 2014 and another US defeat that theory will be cemented, ensuring a 60-something will never again be given the call.

Win though, and the pool of possible future captains for both teams should include men who have previously been dismissed on the basis of age alone.

The short- term implication of Watson’s appointment is that Paul McGinley’s chance of being his opposite number in Perthshire suddenly looks non-existent.

The stature issue is an important one, and McGinley would be no more likely to come out of a battle with Watson victorious on that front than Toms.

Darren Clarke’s aura is exaggerated as far as I’m concerned, certainly in Scotland, where there’s no special reverence that I’ve noticed.

So, if the European kingmakers want to go like for like and try to negate the Watson/Scottish galleries mutual appreciation society with their own big hitter, there’s only one man they can turn to. Colin Montgomerie.

Tom Watson.