Decision looming, McIlroy 'strongly' favors McGinley

• By Rex Hoggard
• Jan 15, 2013 3:12 AM ET

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – The European Tournament Committee was poised to debate the issue at Tuesday’s meeting, but for world No. 1 Rory McIlroy the decision to name the Continent’s next Ryder Cup captain was an easy one.

“I have a very strong opinion about this. I feel Paul (McGinley) deserves it,” the Ulsterman said on Tuesday, hours before the committee was set to potentially decide the 2014 captain. “I’d like to think our opinions are valuable to them.”

The meeting was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (local time) at the Saadiyat Island Resort Hotel and is expected to be a spirited debate between potential captains McGinley, Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie, who only recently joined the conversation as a potential captain in 2014 at Gleneagles in Scotland.

Clarke added a level of intrigue to the decision when he recently suggested that Montgomerie, the 2010 Ryder Cup captain, would be the natural choice to face the Americans and U.S. captain Tom Watson.

But McIlroy, one of the stars of the 2012 European team, made his wishes clear in a tweet last week and reiterated that message on Tuesday.

“Of all the captains I’ve played for I felt he was the best,” said McIlroy, who played for McGinley at the 2009 Seve Trophy. “I would love to see him be captain. I’d be very disappointed if he didn’t get it.”

Both Clarke and McGinley are members of the 15-man Tournament Committee, which may also name the 2016 captain on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi.