Strange backs decision on 2002 teams

Curtis Strange, the US Ryder Cup captain, yesterday emphasised his feeling that the 2001 match, due to take place at The Belfry next week, was merely being delayed for 12 months rather than being re-staged. When the decision to postpone the match was made public on Sunday, it was also decreed that the teams already announced by Strange and Sam Torrance will contest the event.

"Everybody will have their 2001 hats on," Strange said. "They will still wear their 2001 clothes and their 2001 rain gear. That's important to me, that this is the 2001 team and that we don't forget why we're playing a year later."

Open champion David Duval applauded the decision. "I think players who have worked hard and earned their way on the team, especially rookies who haven't experienced it, and the hard work Curtis and Sam have put in, should be rewarded," Duval said.

Whether they will still be the appropriate teams a year from now remains to be seen. There could by then appear to be glaring omissions – any new American or European major winners not already selected, for example – but if re-qualifying is not an option, expanding the teams, perhaps to 14-a-side, might become a talking point.

That is just one dilemma that has been thrown up by the postponement of the 34th Ryder Cup following last week's terrorist outrage in America. At the European Tour's headquarters at Wentworth and the PGA's base at The Belfry itself, discussion over every aspect of the event, from the logistics to the insurance implications, were only just beginning. It could take some time to unravel the whole puzzle, although the Birmingham hoteliers due to accommodate almost 100,000 people will feel the effects almost immediately.

The new date of the event could be the equivalent weekend next year, 27 to 29 September. Although the 2002 European Tour schedule has not yet been announced, the US PGA Tour dates have been released and show the American Express World Championship, last week cancelled in St Louis, will be played at Mount Juliet in Ireland on 19 to 22 September.

One major decision to be taken, in conjunction with the PGA of the America and the US PGA Tour, is whether the Ryder Cup will now revert to even-numbered years. The event was first played in 1927 and has proceeded biennially ever since, except between 1939 and 1945.

The President Cup match between the United States and an International team drawn from the rest of the world barring Europe is next due to be played in November 2002 in South Africa but might also be delayed a year. If so it will take place less than two months after the 35th Ryder Cup, scheduled for Oakland Hills, Detroit in 2003.

A number of European Ryder Cup players will return to competition at the Lancôme Trophy in Paris this week, while Strange and six of his team will play in the Pennsylvania Classic.

Meanwhile, a vice-president of the PGA of America confirmed security had not been the main reason for the postponement. "We felt comfortable with the security that would have been in place in England," M G Orender said. "They're among the best in the world at that. But with as much tragedy and destruction as there has been in the US this week, it was a question of whether it was right to play this event, out of respect to the dead and their families."