It seemed that he had gone as far as any man could go, achieved more than any man could reasonable achieve, but now we find he is thinking about doing it all over again. Bernhard Langer sent ripples round the European Tour this last weekend when he admitted he was giving consideration to doing another stint as captain of the Ryder Cup team.
Langer's remarks would have been welcomed by every last man of the team who handed out such a comprehensive walloping to America's best players at Oakland Hills. He forged a powerful bond with all of them during the run-up to the match, and it was only strengthened after a masterly performance as their leader.
Indeed, the subject was even broached in the team's victory press conference, and it was obvious just by looking along the line of heroes sitting at the top table that they thought having Bernhard at the helm in two years' time was a pretty terrific idea. Langer, of course, just smiled self-deprecatingly, said the right things ("long time to go before that has to be decided, very flattered, been the most satisfying experience of my career, much too early to be talking about such things") and so on.
And that, we thought, was the end of it. Nobody has captained Europe more than once since Bernard Gallacher ended his three-match run in 1995. We thought a precedent had been well and truly set.
Imagine, then, the surprise when Langer, first in a newspaper interview and then on national radio, admitted on Sunday that he had one or two second thoughts. To be fair to him, he did add an immediate caveat that it might not be fair on a few other people who had captaincy aspirations of their own.
But still, he had uttered the words, he had confessed that going for a second term of office in one of the most coveted -- and frightening -- jobs in the game had entered his mind and instead of passing through had remained there long enough for it to take some kind of root.
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| Bernhard Langer would be the first repeating European captain since 1995 if he decides to return. (Getty Images) |
Woosie is one of those contenders, as are Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal and even Sandy Lyle. We are not sure that dear old Sandy, sterling fellow that he is, is truly captain material and it might be a bit soon for Monty and Ollie.
But do you know what? We think Woosnam was right, but not for the reasons he offered to support his case.
First -- and most crucially -- we reckon that Langer should not do the job for his own sake. He has just pulled off one of the major shocks in the history of the competition. Where would he go from here? Would not anything less than 18½ - 9½ be considered a less meritorious achievement?
People might say that victory was the only objective and if a Langer-led Europe were to prevail by one point in 28 at the K Club in 2006, that would be fine. But to take account of human nature, and that being what it is, there would be an inevitable feeling of anti-climax if Langer did not deliver the goods so dominatingly again.
We say that would demean the man and his colossal performance in Detroit. Langer's captaincy is already assured of leaving a lasting legacy on the history of the grand old matches.
