All signs point toward Hal Sutton being the U.S. captain for the next Ryder Cup. A former PGA champion and an emotional leader, Sutton will be 46 when the 2004 matches are played at Oakland Hills in the Detroit suburbs.

The big question is who will follow, and who will get squeezed out.

The PGA of America tends to pick captains who are too old to consistently compete on the PGA Tour, and too young for the Senior PGA Tour. Likely candidates are Paul Azinger, Corey Pavin, Tom Lehman and perhaps Mark O’Meara.

Assuming Sutton is the captain for Oakland Hills, only two Ryder Cups remain before that quartet turns 50. O’Meara will be 49 when the ’06 Ryder Cup is played in Dublin, and would seem to be the most logical choice considering his roots and affinity for Ireland.

However, the PGA of America might not forgive O’Meara for being among the first to raise the compensation issue.

“He’s the one that really started it,” Curtis Strange said. “To be quite frank with you, I would be shocked if he ever got to be the captain.”

The PGA made about $23 million from the ’99 Ryder Cup. To avoid a player revolt, the PGA agreed to let players give $200,000 to the charity of their choice.

Lehman is the next oldest of that bunch, but his career pales in comparison only five career victories.

That leaves Azinger and Pavin as the strongest possibilities for ’06 and ’08. By the time the 2010 Ryder Cup is played in Wales, Davis Love III will be 46.

Left out by lefty: With Phil Mickelson’s wife expecting their third child at the end of March, don’t look for Lefty at The Players Championship or maybe even the Masters.

“I said earlier this year that my schedule over the next 18 months might surprise some people,” Mickelson told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “There are some tournaments that I’m going to miss, like The Players Championship, and others that I’ll be playing in that I haven’t played before.”

Mickelson said his appearance at Augusta National, where he has finished third the last two years, would depend on when the baby is born.

“It doesn’t concern me,” he said. “If I can’t play, I’m not going to worry about it.”

Full Monty: Going 4-0-1 in the Ryder Cup has renewed hopes of 39-year-old Colin Montgomerie that he still has a chance to win his first major championship.

“People say that my major opportunity has gone, and in down times you tend to believe them,” Montgomerie said after tying the course record of 63 at St. Andrews during the Dunhill Links Championship.

“Majors are more difficult now because Tiger has entered them, but in the last few years there are players who have won one that I feel I am as good as.”

Little Easy: Ernie Els’ hopes of winning the European tour money list fell apart in a span of about 12 hours.

First, he took a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 17th hole at St. Andrews during the third round of the Dunhill Links Championship. The next morning, he withdrew from Europe’s richest event because his wife, Leizl, went into labor.

Els does not plan to play any more European tour events this year. He did get to the hospital in time for the delivery of his second child, a son.

Hale of a year: Hale Irwin won for the fourth time this year on the Senior PGA Tour and clinched the points-based Charles Schwab Cup, earning a $1 million annuity.

Irwin has led the race since the seventh tournament of the year in March, and the senior tour still has three tournaments left.

The 57-year-old Irwin has finished in the top five in 17 out of his 25 events this year.