Ian Woosnam is a contender for the Ryder Cup captaincy

Irish golf fans' hopes of seeing a countryman captain Europe's 2006 Ryder Cup team on home soil appear to be fading.

Dr Michael Smurfit, the man credited with bringing the event to the K Club, said he did not think a home skipper was likely.

"I do not think the decision has been taken yet although it is imminent," Dr Smurfit told the Irish Independent on the even of the European Open on the County Kildare course.

"I have said publicly I would love to see an Irish captain in Ireland but it does not necessarily have to be so.

"After all, it was a Scotsman, Sam Torrance, who captained the European Ryder Cup team at the Belfry.

"I suspect it will not be an Irishmen. That is how I sense it."

It is believed the man earmarked as the 2006 skipper will be given the vice-captain's role in 2004.

Names in the frame include Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle and Colin Montgomerie.

If Bernhard Langer leads Europe at Oakland Hills, Detroit, in 2004, many believe Woosnam would be his right-hand man.

That would pave the way for the Welshman to lead the cream of European golf in the 2006 event.

Woosnam had already said he favoured Langer for the 2004 captaincy, and that he would like the job himself two years later.