Choosing the captain

As the European Tour sits down to choose its next Ryder Cup captain today, AP's Doug Ferguson reports that accepting the 2011 Presidents Cup captaincy could rule some leading American players out of the reckoning for the 2012 Ryder Cup.

Davis Love is regarded as a virtual certainty to be asked to lead the side at Medinah in three years' time, providing he doesn't skipper the Presidents Cup side at Royal Melbourne.

The Ryder Cup, which prides itself on history and tradition, is likely to view a former Presidents Cup captain as damaged goods.

Love was asked a few weeks ago what he would do if the PGA Tour asked him in November to be the next Presidents Cup captain.

"I would talk to the PGA of America first to make sure what their schedule was," he said. "If they said, 'Look, you might as well go ahead and be Presidents Cup captain because we are not going to pick you, it will make it easy."

Someone like Toms or Leonard might find themselves in a position of accepting an offer to be Presidents Cup captain and ending their hopes of leading the Ryder Cup, or holding out for the Ryder Cup and being passed over entirely.