Ted Bishop admits appointing Tom Watson as US Ryder Cup captain 'a gamble'

PGA President Ted Bishop is convinced that Tom Watson is the right man to be the American captain for next year's Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, but that it was a gamble.

According to The Scotsman, speaking on the eve of a series of 'Year to Go' events, which start this morning when Watson and his European counterpart Paul McGinley share a steam-train journey from Edinburgh to Gleneagles, Bishop conceded the move, which will see Watson become the fixture's oldest captain at 65, is a 'gamble'.

After watching the Americans lose six of the last eight encounters and fail to win on foreign soil since Watson led his side to victory at The Belfry in 1993, however, he reckons it was time to try something different and, for him, the five-time Open champion was the only man for the job in the home of golf, the report said.

He said that when he came in as president, his first order of business was appointing the Ryder Cup captain and he made a case that 2014 was a unique set of circumstances, adding that there was not a player in modern-day history who had a better record in Scotland than Tom.