Olazabal set to be Europe captain at next Ryder Cup if he wants the job

JOSE Maria Olazabal is in line to be Europe's next Ryder Cup captain, if the Spaniard wants the job and is willing to give up his dream of playing for the team again.

The quest to find Nick Faldo's successor as Ryder Cup captain will start at a meeting of Europe's tournament committee in Scotland next week but won't identify a successful candidate until January or February of next year at the earliest.

While Olazabal, Nick Faldo's vice-captain at Valhalla, is the preferred candidate among players and officials alike, the 42-year-old has indicated he would prefer to play at Celtic Manor in 2010 and might not accept an offer at this stage of his career.

Troubled by poor health over the past year, Olazabal said: "I'm still hoping I will be recovered completely from what I am going through. If that's the case I want to be playing. That's where I'm at. Only time will tell how quickly I recover and how well I can play again. But if I'm asked for a decision later this year that might be a little early."

Should Olazabal maintain that position, then the case for Sandy Lyle, also a two-time major winner, with Ian Woosnam offering Welsh support as vice captain in his home country, may gain momentum in the months ahead. "Sandy has done a lot of good things for European golf," added the Spaniard.

With Sam Torrance also known to support Lyle's candidacy, perhaps the most attractive aspect of the former Masters and Open champion's credentials is that he would return to the collective approach of previous campaigns rather than Faldo's self-defeating isolationism. Lyle would be more than happy to let the players be the story at Celtic Manor.

On the other hand, there's a long standing view in the European Tour that Lyle is not a natural leader. His case was also undermined at the Open in July when he quit halfway through the first round because of poor weather and a dismal scorecard. This didn't send out a message of grit and determination which all captains must expect from their players. Lyle is a 14/1 outsider while Olazabal is the 4/6 favourite.

Colin Montgomerie, who is a strong contender for the job at Gleneagles in 2014, is already on record as saying he wants to play at Celtic Manor. The same thinking will surely apply to Paul McGinley and Thomas Bjorn, both potential future leaders.

Bernard Gallacher's suggestion that Faldo deserves a second chance is unlikely to find support either from his peers or the man himself. If the priority was simply to pick the best man, then few would quibble with asking either Bernhard Langer or Torrance to serve a second term.