With European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke set to be named today as skipper for the 2016 EurAsia Cup, Scotland's top-ranked golfer Marc Warren has put forward his case for selection.
The second staging of the now biennial Eurasia Cup will take place in March next year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Clarke’s rival captain will be India-born and 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open champ, Jeev Milkha Singh.
Warren has played in two Seve Trophy encounters and a Royal Trophy and with both events no longer on the schedule, the EurAsian Cup is now seen as a real stepping stone into the European Ryder Cup team.
Five of last year’s European EurAsia Cup team, including Stephen Gallacher, went on some six months later to compete at Gleneagles.
“I’ve got plenty of team experience having won the 2007 World Cup with Monty plus winning the Seve Trophy the same year plus I was on the winning 2013 wining Royal Trophy team," said Warren.
“So to play in the EurAsia Trophy would be even more experience on the route to playing Ryder Cup.”
It will be both Clarke’s and Singh’s first taste of team captaincy but with the Northern Irishman currently at Hazeltine, and venue for the 2016 Ryder Cup, as part of the ‘Year To Go’ ceremony.
“It’s not only a great honour to be asked to captain the European EurAsia Cup but it’s a great opportunity to get a close hand look at some younger guys who are doing well on the Tour who could possibly qualify for the Ryder Cup team," he said.
"There's also a chance to size up possible Hazeltine pairings so events like the EurAsia Cup can be a good breeding ground for the Ryder Cup.
“I was planning to be out in K.L anyway but now in accepting the captaincy role I will get more interaction with the players, and players I could very well be taking with me to the States later next year.”
Meanwhile, Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee produced a flawless final round to claim victory at the Porsche European Open in Germany ahead of Englishman Graeme Storm.
Scotland's Scott Jamieson posted a 73 for a share of 55th place at two under par, with the Glaswegian dropping three spots to 107th on the Race to Dubai and just three shy of losing his card for a first time in his pro career. Fifer Peter Whiteford signed off for a 75 to drop to a share of 60th place at level par.
Overnight leader Jaidee posted four birdies in his bogey-free round of 67 on Sunday to finish on 17 under, one shot ahead of Storm, and secure his seventh European Tour title.
Jaidee had Storm level with him until the 17th, when the latter found the water with his tee shot, leading to his sole bogey of the day.
Overtaking Colin Montgomerie as the competition's oldest winner, the 45-year-old Jaidee then sealed his triumph with a fine six-foot putt on the 18th.
Sweden's Pelle Edberg was third, two shots behind Storm, Scott Hend of Australia was fourth and Wales' Jamie Donaldson and England's Ross Fisher were among four players tied for fifth.
Jaidee made just two bogeys in the entire competition and even he was slightly surprised at his finishing score.
"It's a very special week for me," said Jaidee on the European Tour website. "It is the third time I have won outside of Asia, so I'm very excited about that and I'm happy to win this tournament.
"I'm feeling very confident at the moment. I didn't make many mistakes this week. I played very nicely and 17 under is some score for me.
"I liked the golf course. It's not very long and you have to keep it in play."
He added: "Graeme Storm played very well too. It was very exciting on the last three holes. The 18th is tough and you can't miss the fairway. I had to go left and then it was a good chip and a good putt at the last to win."
After being pipped to the title, Storm remains on one European Tour win, achieved at the Open de France eight years ago.
However, the 37-year-old took solace from a runners-up finish, saying: "I'm very pleased. I've secured my card and I've got a job again for next year.
"That was the main thing at the start of the week and today as well. Maybe I could have holed a few more putts and the title would be mine, but congratulations to Thongchai, he made a great up and down on the last. It wasn't meant to be.
"It was vital to finish second on my own and I'm looking forward to trying to qualify for The Race to Dubai final rather than having to go to Q-School.
"It's amazing to think all of a sudden I might be able to qualify for that."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here