BERNARD GALLACHER

Bjorn-again Casey is another boost for the Ryder Cup captain

Thomas Bjorn will be a very happy captain, knowing that he will be able to have Paul Casey in Europe’s Ryder Cup team next year.

Darren Clarke did not have that luxury at Hazeltine last time around, and we all know what happened there.

Casey was a big miss. It felt like the Europeans were a man light in terms of relative strength without a proven performer like the Englishman.

Paul wasn’t a member of the European Tour then, but he is now.

Circumstances have changed. He is re-married with two young children and he is re-established on the PGA Tour and inside the world’s top 20.

Now, the Ryder Cup can become a real focus again.

His wife, Pollyanna, has encouraged Paul to rejoin the Tour and that’s key. She will intimately know how much it would mean for her husband to be involved in the Ryder Cup once more.

Next year will mark a decade since he made the last of his three appearances, and frankly that is too long for a player of his undoubted ability.

There is kudos to being a current Ryder Cup player and Paul has not had that for 10 years. That will have hurt a lot.

Plus, his Matchplay pedigree is without question. He had a 100% record in the Walker Cup and he has a winning record in his Ryder Cups, having been part of the European side that had crushing victories in 2004 and 2006.

He is a former World Matchplay winner at Wentworth and he’s twice been runner-up at the WGC Matchplay in America.

As the Ryder Cup now counts on the list of eligible tournaments for membership, Paul only has to find three other events outside of the Majors and WGCs, which is not too much to ask.

Presuming he plays the PGA at Wentworth and one of the other Rolex Series events in Ireland or Scotland before The Open, he will only need one more, which won’t alter his schedule drastically.

Now Casey has made this decision, it’s hard to imagine him not being one of the 12 for Paris next September.

If he maintains anything like his form of the last few years, he’ll be in, whether automatically or as one of Bjorn’s four picks.

In the last three years, the 40-year-old has finished in the top-five no less than 16 times and he’s been in the top 15 in the FedEx Cup every season.

The Americans will know him and they’ll respect him because of how he performs in their backyard every week and because of his matchplay credentials.

Casey’s decision is the latest in a number of positives for Bjorn at this early stage of his captaincy.

The wins in the last two weeks of Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia will have been very well received.

Rose and Garcia are certainties for the Ryder Cup, so it’s better if they can start strongly and take up two of the automatic spots.

As a captain, you want your best players to make life easy for you by quickly playing themselves on to the team.

And Bjorn is going to need all his big hitters to take down what will be a strong American side.