Sam Torrance thinks Paul Lawrie could play again in the Ryder Cup but will “definitely” be European captain at some point.
The two Scots in Darren Clarke’s backroom team at Hazeltine agreed that the European skipper had produced the best team room they had been involved in, but Torrance thinks that his countryman is a candidate for the top job he had himself in 2002.
“I think Paul will play in this again, but he’ll definitely be captain,” said the veteran Scot.
Lawrie himself thinks he will aim to play one more Ryder Cup after his experience at Hazeltine as one of Clarke’s vice-captains.
“This is my third Ryder Cup and the best I’ve been involved in,” he said. “The next captaincy will be decided in the coming months, but whoever gets it is a lucky boy because there’s a lot of great talent in that team for Paris.
“Look at Thomas Pieters, he was fantastic. I was out a lot on the course for Rafa Cabrera Bello and what a player he’s become. He stood up to be counted this week and there’s a lot to be said for that.”
He does think his friend Clarke di all he could to get Europe an unprecedented fourth successive victory.
“From start to finish, you can’t pick out anything that he did wrong,” he continued. “People will second guess, that’s what nature is, but he was calm and calculated, he did everything we thought he should do.
“Everyone’s really disappointed for him because we wanted him to be a winning Ryder Cup captain and he’s not. I’ve loved my week here as has Sam, and I’d really like to play one more but I’m going to have to get fitter and really go for it.”
Neither felt the rowdy galleries were anything like as bad as 1999 at Brookline, when Lawrie played and Torrance was vice-captain.
“It was just a couple of idiots, guys shouting and there’s nothing you can do,” said Torrance. “The Americans team were trying to stop it and getting people ejected, doing what they could.”
Lawrie added: “I played at Brookline and I don’t think this was as bad, definitely not. I was out with Sergio Garcia a lot this week and Tom Lehman was there trying to quiet the crowd as much as I was.
“There’s very little of it that’s abusive. As Sergio says, he now knows he hasn’t won a major, he gets that a lot, but that’s not abuse, it’s just trying to wind him up.
Torrance was involved for a 12th time and loved the experience as much as ever.
“It really was an honour to be here,” he said. “I know we lost but you know, you win some you lose some, and you have to take defeat gracefully.
“You look at our team on the last green, you’d have thought that we won. That’s fantastic and a credit to them.”
