And so, like an epic episode of tea-time favourite Countdown, the tick-tocking begins.

In 553 days' time, Darren Clarke will board a flight from Heathrow with his European team and travel across the Atlantic to Hazeltine for the Ryder Cup. That journey will probably be completed in a faster time than it took the Scottish golf writers to wheeze and waddle their way from terminal 2 to terminal 5 of this sprawling arena of aviation where Clarke was performing his first official duty as Europe's skipper.

"I'm sure the time will go in pretty quickly," he said as he steeled himself for 18 months of increasingly fevered probing, pontificating and pondering in the remorseless build up to the biennial bout with the USA. "I've had a nice four weeks down in South Africa, getting away from everything. Now it's take-off."

As a stalwart of the European Tour and a veteran of five Ryder Cup campaigns down the years, Clarke believes one of his biggest strengths as skipper will be the fact that he is close to the players. "Maybe too close," he said with a smile. He may spend more time doing sessions in the gym than sessions on the Guinness these days, but this new, slim line Clarke still wants those players to be open with him, confide in him and see him as the friendly face. "I need to be me and don't want to change myself that much," he added. There won't be any old pals' acts from him, mind you.

"I'll be very player friendly but don't get me wrong, I won't shirk my responsibilities of making tough decisions," continued Clarke. "I will not shirk at all and I will do what I have to, when I have to. There are very few players nowadays who play all five matches. They used to do it, but not very many now. So everybody understands that if you leave someone out it is for the benefit of the team. People look at how successful Europe have been of late and that goes down to the captain managing the players and the players willingness to accept the captain's decision even if they are disappointed. Different captains have different styles. Some have their arms around the players, like Sam Torrance or Ian Woosnam, others are more distant, like Seve. I'd like to think I'm somewhere in the middle ground. I'm still playing and very friendly with possible members of the team. Yes, there has to be a little bit of separation and maybe times when the players just speak to the vice-captains. But it would be foolish of me to say go and speak to them. I want the players to come and speak to me. I want to be their ear as well, not just the vice-captains. That's more me."

These close ties with the players around him is something that Clarke clearly savours but it is his relationship with Rory McIlroy that gives him that extra sense of satisfaction. The current world No 1 first met Clarke on his ninth birthday at Royal Portrush. Three years later, as a 12-year-old, he was part of Clarke's own Foundation for developing talent. Here in 2015, McIlroy is on the cusp of the career grand slam ahead of the Masters in two weeks' time at the age of just 25.

"It's an incredible step," said Clarke as he reflected on Rory's rapid rise from child prodigy to major champion. "Kids like Rory don't come along too often. He came through the foundation and then supported me for the Ryder Cup captaincy; he's just a great kid and a very special young man. He also has a great sense of responsibility for the game. Rory had that something special about him when he first came to my foundation as a boy. He was different. And he still is. If he doesn't win at Augusta this year, he'll win next year. If he doesn't win next year, he'll win the year after. He's going to win there some time. It's only a question of when. It's suited perfectly for him; that high draw when his swing is on is just perfect around there. He's got the shots, he's got the touch, he moves the ball both ways, he flights it whatever way he wants and he's got those soaring, high long irons that Tiger Woods would hit in his prime."

And what of Woods, the former world No 1 and 14-time major winner who yesterday slithered down to 96th on the latest global rankings, as his spell on the sidelines continued.

"He's one of best players that has ever played the game and we tend to forget that a bit too quickly," said Clarke. "Due to Rory coming along, people are saying 'Tiger's done; he's finished' but I wouldn't be quite as quick to write him. He's a special man."