ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Jason Dufner is considering widening his horizons by competing more in Europe and could decide to become a member of the tour in future, the United States Ryder Cup player said on Wednesday.

Dufner is 11th in the world rankings after winning twice on the U.S. PGA Tour last season and making his debut appearance in the Ryder Cup.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer, two heroes of Europe’s triumphant Ryder Cup campaign at Medinah Country Club last year, have backed the choice of Paul McGinley as captain for the 2014 edition.

The Players Committee announced on Tuesday that Irishman McGinley would skipper the holders against the United States in Gleneagles, Scotland next year.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – The European Tour may change the way future Ryder Cup captains are chosen after an often “unseemly” campaign ended this week with Paul McGinley being picked to lead the 2014 team, said chief executive George O’Grady.

McGinley’s appointment on Tuesday as the first Irish skipper in the 86-year history of the event came at the end of a campaign during which golfing politics came to the fore.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – New Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley plans to commemorate the late Seve Ballesteros and pay a special tribute to the ‘Home of Golf’ when he leads holders Europe against the United States at Gleneagles next year.

“I can assure all of the people in Scotland that I’ll have very much a Scottish theme to what I’m going to do at Gleneagles,” the 46-year-old Irishman told reporters ahead of this week’s Abu Dhabi Championship.

ABU DHABI, Jan 16 (Reuters) – New Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley plans to commemorate the late Seve Ballesteros and pay a special tribute to the ‘Home of Golf’ when he leads holders Europe against the United States at Gleneagles next year.

“I can assure all of the people in Scotland that I’ll have very much a Scottish theme to what I’m going to do at Gleneagles,” the 46-year-old Irishman told reporters ahead of this week’s Abu Dhabi Championship.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Ireland’s Paul McGinley has been appointed captain of Europe’s Ryder Cup team for the biennial match against the United States next year, the Players’ Committee said on Tuesday.

The 46-year-old, who holed the winning putt in the 2002 match at The Belfry, edged former skipper Colin Montgomerie in a vote taken by the 15-man committee in Abu Dhabi.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – A refreshed and rejuvenated Tiger Woods cannot wait to launch his season at this week’s $2.7-million Abu Dhabi Championship, the former world number one said on Tuesday.

The 37-year-old American did not touch his clubs for a few weeks after the end of his 2012 campaign and, having gone through a series of injury-interrupted years in recent times, he is relishing the start of the new season.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Former British Open golf champion Darren Clarke has pulled out of the race to succeed Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain.

“I have been to see (Players Committee chairman) Thomas Bjorn and formally informed him I do not want to be considered for the Ryder Cup captaincy in 2014,” the Northern Irishman told reporters on Tuesday.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – This week’s Abu Dhabi Championship is billed as a desert duel between Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods but the American says theirs is a new rivalry and cannot yet compare to past on-course battles he has had.

Fourteen-times major winner Woods believes it will take time to develop the same sort of rivalry with world number one McIlroy that he has experienced with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Ernie Els.

LONDON (Reuters) – Chelsea fans turned on Fernando Torres for the first time during the Capital One (League) Cup semi-final first leg defeat by Swansea City and the vultures are starting to circle above the misfiring Spain striker’s head.

Torres has had his share of trials and tribulations since joining the Londoners from Liverpool for a British record fee of 50 million pounds in January 2011.