Darren Clarke named 2016 European Ryder Cup captain over Miguel Angel Jimenez

While the USA team went with the surprising choice of Davis Love III this week, Team Europe opted for the expected selection of Darren Clarke as captain for the 2016 Ryder Cup. The European side, which seems to have the process of both naming a captain and selecting a team down to a science, had long targeted Clarke as the team leader for when the match play competition came to Hazeltine in Minnesota.

Just like most of the Euros of this generation, Clarke has enjoyed dominant success both as a player and assistant captain in the Ryder Cup. Three of the four teams he’s played on have won the cup, and the two times he helped out as vice captain, the Euro side won. He’s won 11.5 points in 20 career matches.

Aside from his personal success, Clarke follows the recent Euro blueprint. He’s been immersed in the team for two decades now, and got his feet wet as one of the non-playing leaders by helping captain Colin Montgomerie in 2010 and Jose Maria Olazabal in that stunning 2012 comeback. As a player, Clarke was the subject of one of the Ryder Cup’s great moments when he went undefeated in 2006 at the K Club just weeks after his wife’s death.

While Clarke did not serve in any capacity (aside from TV commentary) this past fall at Gleneagles, it was still expected he would get the nod. Only Miguel Angel Jimenez seemed like a potential contender to beat out Clarke for the spot. Jimenez is another one of those Euro Tour icons who should hopefully get his time as captain soon, likely in 2018 in France. And it will be hard to root against him.

Much like Paul McGinley, Clarke got the backing of prospective Euro team members, including its most important player, Rory McIlroy. The No. 1 player in the world is friendly with his fellow Ulsterman and supported his candidacy. Clarke, the first captain from Northern Ireland, promptly received congratulatory tweets from some of the most dominant players in the competition’s history, on either side.

The American side, which formed a task force in the fallout of the Tom Watson disaster, decided to go with repeat captain DLIII. This is the second straight time Love will captain the USA side on home soil. He was, of course, at the helm for that Sunday “Medinah Meltown” in 2012. He seems like a middle ground compromise between the authoritarianism of Watson and the easygoing Fred Couples, who has lead two straight dominant Presidents Cup teams and had been the favorite for the 2016 Ryder Cup captain.

The competition is almost 18 months away, but Love and Clarke will now spend much of the intervening time trotting around the globe and proselytizing the virtues of the organizations they’re representing, the PGA of America and the European Tour.