Torrance handed key Ryder Cup role
Former Ryder Cup-winning skipper and City A.M. columnist Sam Torrance has been named one of Europe’s vice-captains for this year’s contest against the United States at Gleneagles.
Europe captain Paul McGinley – part of Torrance’s victorious team at the Belfry in 2002 – has also asked his fellow Irishman Des Smyth to assist him in defending the trophy in September.
Torrance, 60, has a wealth of experience in the competition. As well as his triumphant stint as a captain, the Scot was on the winning side as a player four times from eight appearances, and famously holed the decisive putt in 1985, also at the Belfry.
He also led a Great Britain and Ireland team against Continental Europe in last year’s Seve Trophy.
Smyth, 61, played in the 1979 and 1981 Ryder Cups, which were both won by the United States.
The Americans, skippered by veteran Tom Watson, have won the biennial event just twice in the last nine meetings, and not on this side of the Atlantic since 1993, when Watson was again the captain.