HIS SINGULAR genius was an ability to make the impossible happen, but even Seve Ballesteros will have trouble with this one. The Spaniard whose brushes with authority have been no less entertaining than his miraculous escapes from bushes, bunkers and assorted car parks says he wants another shot at captaining Europe in the Ryder Cup.

The man who led them to victory at Valderrama in 1997 has been having such a ball at the Seve Trophy, where his European team lead Great Britain & Ireland 9½-8½, that he fancies himself to succeed Nick Faldo at Celtic Manor in 2010. “I was thinking about it out on the course,” he says. “I was having such a good time. If the players want me, I would be happy to do it again.”

Ballesteros, who retired from competitive golf earlier this year, has relished his captain’s role at the Heritage, careering his buggy over the humps and hollows of County Laois, dishing out legs of Iberian ham to anyone with an appetite, and adopting the hands-on approach for which he was famous at Valderrama. The man who said he would never return to the Ryder Cup is having second thoughts. “In life, you say certain things and then change your mind.

Everybody does that. I have no doubts that I would be a better captain now, although it would be difficult because I won. I have learnt a lot of things. I know how to treat players, how to make the team play together, how to keep everybody happy. I have a very good relationship with the players,” he said.

Maybe, but his relationship with the European Tour is so uneasy that he will have a hard job persuading them this event deserves to keep its slot on the schedule, never mind that he should be installed as their next Ryder Cup captain. Yesterday’s marginal increase in crowds at least ensured there were more bodies behind the ropes than there were inside them.

Events in this otherwise sleepy corner of Ireland have been such that you wonder why anybody would want to captain Europe in the Ryder Cup. Faldo, leading the GB&I team, has been given an early taste of the flak that will come his way between now and next year's match at Valhalla. He was berated for not including an Irishman, and more particularly Paul McGinley, among his wild cards. Former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance yesterday added his tuppence worth to the debate by describing as “absolutely horrific” the decision to make the Irishman a vice-captain when he was still keen to play on the team.

Neither has Faldo found it easy on the course. His team secured only half a point from yesterday’s morning greensomes, in which Gregory Havret holed in one at the par-three seventh. And although they fared better in the foursomes, a 3&2 defeat of Colin Montgomerie and Graeme Storm by Robert Karlsson and Gonzalez Fernandez-Castano made sure that the advantage remained with Europe.

Seve Trophy, today, Sky Sports 2, 11am