"McGinley would leave no stone unturned"

God only knows what is going on behind the scenes as the 2014 Ryder Cup captaincy politicking reaches its zenith prior to next week's gathering of great minds.

Martin Dempster in The Scotsman steps forward with a commentary that won't make Monty happy, but does make plenty of sense for the cause of Paul McGinley in light of Tom Watson's appointment.

Forget the fact it would be a bit like David versus Goliath in terms of stature between him and Watson. Forget the fact also that McGinley doesn’t have a major title to his name and has only finished in the top five once on the money-list in 21 seasons on the European Tour.

Of more importance is the fact he’s been groomed for this position, having served under both Montgomerie and Olazabal as vice captain in the Ryder Cup and also proving himself on his own two feet when leading Great Britain & Ireland to victory over Continental Europe in the 2011 Vivendi Cup.

McGinley would leave no stone unturned in his bid to become a winning Ryder Cup captain as well and would quickly earn the respect of his opposite number, even though their paths will rarely have crossed due to a 17-year age gap. Having won seven of the last nine biennial bouts, this is no time for Europe to be making knee-jerk reactions to Watson’s appointment – and, sadly, tossing Sandy Lyle’s name into the hat next week would fall into that category. It’s simply too late now for one of the great ambassadors for European golf to be given his chance of the captaincy.