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Darren Clarke was quick to tweet he has not been offered the next European Ryder Cup captaincy in was his.

But that didn't stop money pouring in on Clarke being appointed Jose Maria Olazabal's successor at Gleneagles in 2014. The 2011 Open Champion is quoted as odds-on after a week in which his candidature was given a massive boost.

First came the backing of his great friend and Europe's most experienced current player Lee Westwood. Then followed the report that the deal was already done.

Even if it isn't, the fact that it has been reported this way makes it potentially harder for the Players' Committee to overlook the 44-year-old from Northern Ireland.

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It's time to talk Turkey. The end of the European Tour season is in need of pepping up after the success of the FedEx Cup on the US circuit.

Bosses at the Wentworth-based Tour recognise this and it appears we are set for a major change from next year. Turkey is ready to become part of a new look to the climax of the Race to Dubai.

This week the country stages an unofficial tournament, the inaugural Turkish Airlines World Final event at the Antalya Golf Club in Belek.

It is an eight-man exhibition with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy heading a field that will play medal matchplay for a first prize of $1.5 million. Those finishing seventh and eighth in the tournament are guaranteed $300,000.

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Follow that Gleneagles. In two years when the Ryder Cup comes to Scotland the event's status as a sporting spectacle will never have been higher.

It is amazing how the legend of this biennial clash between Europe and the United States continues to grow.

Before the extraordinary three days that have just been played out at Medinah there were fears that the match was becoming a bit too cosy.

In essence it was going to be one bunch of PGA Tour pros against another, two groups of pals contesting a famous trophy but without the hostile edge of old.

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