Well that's not exactly true. The Englishman knew he would be turning right at the plane door to a seat in economy but the former Ryder Cup star couldn't be sure of the aircraft's destination.

This was his situation only last Saturday. Would it be Hong Kong or South Africa that would provide the last tournament chance to regain his European Tour card?

"So where are you playing?" I asked him.

"Still don't know. Guess that's what happens when you play rubbish," Wilson replied with his familiar cheery grin.

Wilson is showing signs of emerging from an alarming slump that cost him his card twelve months ago. Two years earlier the Nottinghamshire man had finished seventh on the money list and in 2008 he played for Europe in the Ryder Cup.

Wilson was selected to play for Europe at the 2008 Ryder Cup. Photo: Getty

After a season playing largely courtesy of invitations, he calls this week "the most important of my career" because the opportunity is there to put himself back where he firmly believes he belongs.

"Fortunately I feel like I'm moving in the right direction and I'm not too far away," the 32-year-old said.

"But I've fallen so far down the path that it is a lot harder now to move in the right direction because you need opportunities and they don't always come along that often now."

And this was why it wasn't until last Sunday lunchtime before Wilson knew that his destination would be Hong Kong this week. It took the final shake down in Singapore to determine whether he could squeeze into the field.

Heading East was his preferred option. A top eight finish should be enough to secure his card. In South Africa Wilson would have probably needed fourth place money or better.

"When you are playing well and you are in the big tournaments, earning good money your family is happy and everything is good," he said.

"It is stressful (because you are trying to win) but it doesn't come close to when all of a sudden you are not earning any money and you are spending a lot of money to play in the tournaments.

"People around you get worried; your friends and your family. One of the hardest things is to watch your family because they live it with you. You know, I play the golf, I'm confident and know what I'm doing and I believe in what I'm doing.

"You are constantly picking yourself back up, having to take the positives from every result so you are kind of used to dealing with that.

"When it starts going wrong I think its harder on your family. It's hard to watch that and see the stress that they get under from it because they are wanting you to do so well.

"You can't compare it with the stress of trying to make the Ryder Cup. At the time you would say 'that was really stressful, I'm glad that's all over.'

"But from where I'm looking now I'd say if I hadn't made that Ryder Cup would it have been that big a deal? It would have been a bump along the path but it certainly wouldn't have affected me like this last couple of years."

Having hit such heights and good enough to garner nine runners up cheques Wilson is currently experiencing the flip side of the game.

It is a lifestyle far removed from the pampered existences of those for whom finding the bottom of the cup has been a whole lot easier in recent times.

Wilson was speaking as part of a BBC 5Live special report on the largely unseen side of the professional game that is far removed from the glamorous heights of Rory McIlroy and Co.

The programme will be aired next week while the top sixty on the money list contest the big money season finale DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

At the same time many of the lesser lights will be readying themselves for six rounds at the Tour's qualifying school.

Wilson hopes to earn enough this week to avoid that tortuous process. His decline has been down to a myriad of reasons including a stomach illness that took too long to be diagnosed.

Losing his card at the end of the 2011 season was "a massive blow to the ego". He remains refreshingly positive and is helped by a sense of perspective that means he doesn't lose sight of the privilege of playing golf for a living.

Nevertheless there have been seriously dark days. "One week you miss a cut and it feels like the end of the world's near," he admitted. "Everything's as bad as it can be.

"Quite often on a Sunday night, or a Friday if you've missed the cut, it all hits you. What's going on? Then you get up on a Saturday morning and try to pick yourself back up.

"You know there have been some really down weeks - tears and all sorts. You don't know what's going to happen and you are really worried and that's where its important you have the right people around you."

Wilson has made €132,000 this season from an uncertain schedule that has cost him any chance of creating a strategic timetable to suit his game. It's a far cry from the recent days when he'd earned enough to join the PGA Tour for the 2010 season.

He didn't make the move out of loyalty to the European Tour and a desire to retain his Ryder Cup place.

"I've questioned quite a lot whether I could get back and whether I'd lost my short game or the mental ability to score," Wilson admitted. "But after this year I've realised its all there. It just comes down to fine margins."

And so he heads to Hong Kong, the venue where he played his first European Tour event eight years ago, in the desperate hope that he can revive his career.

"It's going to be a matter of time. Whether it takes two months, six months, six years to get back to where I was I know I will. I'm very impatient and I wish it had happened a year ago but I'll keep positive and moving forward."

There's no more decent or personable player on Tour. Let's hope it is this week.

The very top golfers play power games which have nothing to do with the length they despatch their drives. With their incredible wealth, these leading stars have the clout to influence significantly how the game is governed.

We have just seen the world's top two players ignore a World Golf Championships event, another major winner suggest he is ready to take legal action to prevent a rule change and the European Tour alter its qualifying criteria to suit its biggest names.

Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods sat out the WGC Champions in Shenzhen last week. This is one of four events in the tier of tournament immediately below the quartet of majors that provide golf's yardstick.

USPGA champion Keegan Bradley says he will consider taking legal action against golf's governing bodies if they decide to ban long putters. Photo: Getty  

It just did not suit their schedules. In most other sports the athletes fit around the game's calendar. But in this instance golf's two biggest stars were writing letters of apology to the sponsors.

At the same time sizable cheques were being passed to them for playing an exhibition match against each other in the same country and same week as the official tournament.

Of course they should make the most of their market value, but the fact that Woods and McIlroy felt able to snub the schedule should be of great concern to the blazer brigade.

Ironically it probably helped the sponsors drive through their desire to make this tournament a full WGC event. From next year it will carry all the bells and whistles of the three American-based Championships.

It will be interesting to see what impact its yield of FedEx Cup points will have on the entry list when Ian Poulter defends his title in Shanghai next year.

Poulter, by the way, is now a two-times WGC champion, which undoubtedly elevates his standing in the game.

Achieving his biggest strokeplay title in China also has added value because this is now the game's battleground region. Players, managers, sponsors and administrators know this is where the big money is to be made.

And if Tianlang Guan fulfils his prodigious potential, expect a fair chunk of that cash to head in the direction of him and his associates. At 14 he has just won the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship.

This is a tournament set up by the Augusta National and Royal and Ancient golf clubs. These two power-brokers want their piece of the expanding Asian empire and this event gives them a foothold.

As a result Guan earns a place at next year's Masters. He will compete at Augusta 10 months after another 14-year-old from China, Andy Zhang, qualified for the US Open.

These players represent the next generation, but the shape of the golfing landscape they will inherit looks like being determined by today's star names.

For example, will the use of extended putters be permitted? As noted in an earlier blog, the R&A and United States Golf Association are seriously considering banning such implements by outlawing the use of anchor points in the stroke.

But it seems they face a fight if they want to push through such legislation.

Keegan Bradley, a pro completing only his second full season on the PGA Tour, feels financially secure enough to consider legal action to contest the move.

Bradley won last year's PGA Championship and was a star of the American Ryder Cup team. He is looking to others like Webb Simpson and Ernie Els, who also used extended putters to win majors, to join him in the fight.

The prospect of golfers taking governing bodies to court is a worrying one with only one certainty - money will leave the game and head into the pockets of lawyers.

But the very existence of such a notion illustrates further the power top players hold.
A few weeks ago Luke Donald's suggestion that the Ryder Cup should be regarded as a counting event on the European Tour was swiftly accepted.

It has clearly been judged vital to keep the continent's biggest stars happy, even when it means we do not see as much of them competing on the Tour's schedule.

Effectively this move means that the American-based Europeans have to play one fewer event, which hardly helps bolster a Tour struggling to cope with the impact of the Eurozone crisis.

With Peter Hanson the latest to say he will play the US circuit full-time next season, it is conceivable that of the Ryder Cup team victorious at Medinah, only Paul Lawrie will be fully committed to the European Tour.

Again this is an example of players exploiting rights they have earned. It also provides another indicator that in golf the biggest players can largely please themselves.
They are getting as big as the game itself.

But that didn't stop money pouring in on Clarke being appointed Jose Maria Olazabal's successor at Gleneagles in 2014. The 2011 Open Champion is quoted as odds-on after a week in which his candidature was given a massive boost.

First came the backing of his great friend and Europe's most experienced current player Lee Westwood. Then followed the report that the deal was already done.

Even if it isn't, the fact that it has been reported this way makes it potentially harder for the Players' Committee to overlook the 44-year-old from Northern Ireland.

Clarke and McGinley played in the 2002, 2004 and 2006 European Ryder Cup teams. Picture: Gerry

Westwood was surprisingly forthright and was prepared to highlight the fact that Clarke's achievements in the game are that bit greater than those of his main rival Paul McGinley.

In the last couple of months Clarke has done everything right to make sure his name is in the frame.

He successfully distanced himself from his past criticisms of the Centenary Course at Gleneagles and has spoken repeatedly of what an honour it would be to lead his continent.

Clarke was an inscrutable assistant to Olazabal at Medinah and like the other vice captains, McGinley included, made no effort to claim any of the glory from Europe's sensational last day comeback.

That was also a smart move and typical of the man. The extraordinary achievements of Chicago belong to the players and quite rightly Ian Poulter has been named European Tour player of the month for his astonishing contribution.

The Players' Committee are in no rush to make an appointment. The next captain was briefly discussed at the end of a meeting at St Andrews the week after the Ryder Cup.

No vote or decision was taken, although it is fair to assume leading candidates have been sounded out in the wake of that gathering.

It will next be formally discussed in the Middle East in January, probably in Abu Dhabi, with an announcement to follow a couple of weeks later at the Dubai Desert Classic.

Westwood is right to point to Clarke's huge contribution to the European cause over five playing appearances and two vice captaincies. The fact he is a major winner also weighs in the Ulsterman's favour.

He is certainly going to lead Europe one day. The problem with appointing Clarke for Gleneagles is that it would significantly increase the possibility of McGinley missing out altogether.

Despite the positive spin for Clarke, it is the Dubliner who is the best qualified of all the potential candidates.

But if he misses out in 2014, McGinley runs the risk of being squeezed out of future matches by the likes of Padraig Harrington and Westwood.

McGinley has his own place in Ryder Cup folklore after holing the winning putt in 2002 and in three appearances has always been on the winning side.

As a player or in a backroom capacity he has never been in a losing professional team and he skippered two victorious Seve Trophy teams in brilliant style.

Yes, the match that pits GB and Ireland against Continental Europe isn't the Ryder Cup but it is still a fine test of future captains.

McGinley was tactically astute in both contests. He was clever with his pairings, batting orders and communication. In the media room he not only didn't put a foot wrong, he excelled.

He always seemed a step ahead of his opposing number - Thomas Bjorn in 2009, and Jean Van de Velde two years later.

McGinley's players spoke of him in glowing terms, praising his organisational and motivational skills.

"Paul McGinley has done an unbelievable job this week motivating the guys, keeping everybody in the loop, asking the guys where they want to play, who they want to play with," said Graeme McDowell immediately after the 09 match.

"He's been a really, really good motivator. You know, they [Continental Europe] have the best team on paper, no doubt about it, but we were up for it."

Significantly the Dubliner is also representative of rank and file European Tour members and this is an important consideration. That aspect is diminishing because the team is now dominated by American based Europeans and that will not change going forward.

The recent decision to allow the Ryder and Presidents' Cups and Seve Trophy to be one of the 13 counting events towards Tour membership will also hit the number of tournaments played in Europe by the continent's biggest stars.

McGinley ticks every box despite never having won a major and has the potential to be a great captain.

It would be a loss to European golf if he doesn't get the chance to lead his continent.

Bosses at the Wentworth-based Tour recognise this and it appears we are set for a major change from next year. Turkey is ready to become part of a new look to the climax of the Race to Dubai.

This week the country stages an unofficial tournament, the inaugural Turkish Airlines World Final event at the Antalya Golf Club in Belek.

It is an eight-man exhibition with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy heading a field that will play medal matchplay for a first prize of $1.5 million. Those finishing seventh and eighth in the tournament are guaranteed $300,000.

Rory McIlroy could pile up the air miles with future season finales scheduled for China and Turkey. Photo: Getty

"It will be a lot of fun," the top two players in the world agreed at the prospect of facing each other on Wednesday. The organisers hope McIlroy and Woods will meet again in Friday's final.

The other competitors, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Webb Simpson, Hunter Mahan, Charl Schwartzel and Matt Kuchar will, of course, have other ideas.

"Fun" is the operative word. There are no ranking points at stake and while McIlroy would love to put one over Woods, he told BBC Sport: "Whatever the result, I don't think you can look too much into it because it's not like we are going head to head in the final day of a major.

"But I'm sure we will be trying pretty hard out there and trying to beat one another and hopefully I can come out on top."

The real significance of this week is that it opens up the Turkish market to professional golf at the highest level. The country is desperate to show it can stage big events as it readies itself for another bid to stage the Olympics.

Next year it is expected that this tournament will become a big-money, 78-man strokeplay contest on the European Tour staged the week ahead of the season finale in Dubai.

Tour boss George O'Grady has hinted that it will form part of an end of season run that will be akin to, but not a replica of, the PGA Tour's Play-off series.

It would include the BMW Masters in Shanghai and the HSBC WGC event, also staged in China.

"Hopefully that can happen," McIlroy said. "I know there's a lot of talk going on with Shanghai going from a thirty-man to eighty-man field this year, this (Turkey) maybe going to a bigger field next year in big money events.

"I think that's what the European Tour needs to give it some sort of buzz like the PGA Tour has and get the best players playing week in, week out. It will mean a very busy end to the season for us, but an exciting one too."

McIlroy will defend his title in Shanghai later this month - it was an unofficial event last year. But he is expected to miss the WGC tournament that is moving to Shenzen, also in China, the following week.

The absence of the world number one will be a glaring omission and Woods is not likely to be there either. This won't impress the paymasters and keeping sponsors happy is vital in the current economic climate.

Revamping of the season end is key to the Tour's future strategy, especially if it is to make the most of the extra interest generated by Europe's sensational Ryder Cup victory.

The events at Medinah have resonated on both sides of the Atlantic. We should be in no doubt how much defeat has hurt the American players.

Woods personally apologised to the four American rookies for not contributing more and admits it was "tough" to come to terms with yet another US defeat.

It's worth remembering not a euro, pound, dollar or cent was at stake in Chicago, just a famous trophy.

The motives are somewhat different this week in Turkey but the advent of pro golf here may well have a value that will be felt very significantly in the seasons to come.

It is amazing how the legend of this biennial clash between Europe and the United States continues to grow.

Before the extraordinary three days that have just been played out at Medinah there were fears that the match was becoming a bit too cosy.

In essence it was going to be one bunch of PGA Tour pros against another, two groups of pals contesting a famous trophy but without the hostile edge of old.

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But then Ian Poulter told us that "we want to kill them" and Brandt Snedeker talked of "beating their brains" and we started to realise that this would be as competitive as ever.

Two holes into the first match on Friday morning and Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell were demanding second opinions on whether the European was entitled to a free greenside drop.

The tone was set and battle was joined.

But Europe seemed flat, cowed and lacking in passion for almost two days until Poulter lit the spark that ignited the comeback flame from 10-4 down late on Saturday afternoon.

To borrow from the Englishman's somewhat inappropriate pre-match metaphor, he was indeed the assassin of American hopes. It was his closing five birdies in the Saturday fourballs that convinced his team-mates that the final day comeback was possible.

Poulter is a remarkable character. Lee Westwood was spot on when he suggested the qualifying categories going forward should be "nine qualifiers, two captain's picks and Poults."

In the wake of Poulter's four out of four haul, Europe's skipper Jose Maria Olazabal agreed that we have to regard him among the continent's Ryder Cup greats.

Golf's self-made man - no one has maximised his talents more - quite rightly has to be placed alongside Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie in the list of European greats in these matches.

It wasn't just the 100% winning record it was the way that it was achieved that was so significant to Europe's so improbable 14½-13½ victory at Medinah.

This was one of the greatest Ryder Cups, and Europe's finest comeback by a mile. But what are the long-term implications?

Ian Poulter is earning plaudits for his performance which helped Europe clinch the Ryder Cup.

Two years ago Montgomerie insisted victory for his team at Celtic Manor was vital to the future financial health of the European Tour.

Monty's contention was overstating the truth. It didn't encourage more top players to compete on the Tour, indeed ever since its American counterparts have grown ever stronger.

Switching the qualifying process to make the top five on the European money list followed by the leading five world ranking points accumulators also plays into the hands of the American-based players.

Paul Casey, then number nine in the world, and Justin Rose both missed out in 2010 because they didn't play more European Tour events. Both would have been in Monty's team if the qualifying order was the same as it is now.

So while it provides the stronger looking line-up it does little to boost a Tour that is fighting the economic effects of the Eurozone crisis.

By contrast the American tour becomes ever more attractive even if its home players can't find a way to win the Ryder Cup.

They discovered a way to play foursomes and fourballs and established some outstanding partnerships. Yet without a mate at their side and amid the final-day pressure they buckled as individuals.

That's how it used to be for Europe. There has been a total role reversal in this compelling new chapter in the history of the Ryder Cup.

Where does it go from here? The US will be more desperate than ever to find a way to win away from home for the first time in more than two decades when we get to Gleneagles in 2014.

It is hard to imagine the likes of Steve Stricker and Furyk still being part of their team. Hindsight is 20/20 but those two captain's wildcard picks are not looking so clever now.

Experience, especially losing experience, is seriously overrated. Tiger Woods has only been on one winning American team since his debut in 1997.

The likes of Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and Jason Dufner have to become the nucleus of the next US team and surely they will so do with a determination fuelled by the frustration of their Medinah defeat.

Europe ultimately benefited from the influence of Poulter, the tenacity of Rose and composure of Luke Donald. Westwood came to the fore having been rested on Saturday afternoon and Paul Lawrie was typically inspired on the final day.

Many of the triumphant Chicago dozen will be back to defend the trophy in Scotland. Who will be their leader? Probably one of the quartet of vice captains; Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn, Paul McGinley and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Of those, McGinley is best qualified for the task of prolonging an American agony that ensures this competition remains as compellingly competitive as ever.

Not only that, the 39-year-old who was 15 over par at East Lake, insisted he was readying himself to be in prime shape to play all five sessions against the USA.

Westwood has only missed one sequence of matches in an unbroken Ryder Cup career that stretches back to 1997.

"It's a tiring week. With 36 holes Friday and Saturday hopefully, it can take it out of you," Westwood said.

Naturally every player wants to compete in every session - that's part of any elite performer's DNA and they feel they can live with the inevitable fatigue. But captains have to dispassionately decide on each player's workload.

Will European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal (left) select Lee Westwood for all five sessions?

In past Ryder Cups European skippers had to depend heavily on their star names and fit the lesser lights around them. In 1999 Mark James infamously didn't blood three of his rookies until the singles. The policy produced a four point lead heading into the final day but it didn't prove enough as America swept through the Sunday singles.

Nowadays there is such strength in depth on both sides that neither captain needs to flog his elite players for the entire match. All 24 at Medinah are ranked inside the world's top 35.

If Jose Maria Olazabal and Davis Love III want their golfers at their best for the final day they should tell them they are all likely to be rested at some stage.
Westwood has been on the winning team in five of his seven Ryder Cups and has played massive roles in each of those triumphs. He has amassed 19 points from 33 matches, but only two of those have come in singles.

Heroics in foursomes and fourballs have come at a cost. The same can be said of Sergio Garcia who has won only one of five final day matches.

Going back further Ian Woosnam managed only two halves from eight singles matches. Too often he was a spent force on the day the trophy was decided.
By contrast Colin Montgomerie was famously unbeaten in singles despite doing full duty in foursomes and fourballs in the majority of his eight appearances. Then again, Monty bucked most trends throughout his career.

At last year's Solheim Cup Europe's captain Alison Nicholas told her team that no one
would play all five matches. She knew it would be a close contest and believed she had sufficient strength in depth for her plan to work.

The upshot was a thrilling victory in the singles after the scores had been levelled heading into the final day and the trophy returned to European hands. Nicholas' example could be well worth following this week.

There is every reason to expect the 39th Ryder Cup to be one of the tightest contests and the challenge for both captains is to find a deciding edge.

Communicating such a policy is vital. When Westwood was dropped for the Saturday foursomes at Valhalla it was a bolt from the blue and the timing was appalling.

Captain Sir Nick Faldo told his fellow Englishman halfway through a tough Friday afternoon fourball as Westwood was striving to equal Arnold Palmer's record run of unbeaten matches.

It was a blow to Westwood's pride and nearly cost Europe the fourball where he was partnering Soren Hansen against JB Holmes and Boo Weekley.

Olazabal is far less likely to be so crass in communicating his plans. He also knows he has as strong a European line up through player one to twelve as any of his predecessors.

Love can say the same of his American team, but does he have the courage to bench his talisman Tiger Woods?

The former world number one is at his most effective in the singles and hasn't lost since falling to Costantino Rocca on debut in 1997. By contrast he has delivered only nine and half points from 23 matches in foursomes and fourballs.

Woods' likely pairing with Steve Stricker looks like being a potent combination but will they be expected to play 36 holes on each of the first two days?

The re-jigging of the weather affected schedule at Celtic Manor two years ago meant that no one could play more than four matches. With the weather set fair here in Chicago there appears no chance of a repeat scenario.
It will be down to the captains to decide how many matches their charges will play. It might just be that less means more.

She was just 22 years old and the Taiwanese player could already boast five major titles. Tseng was the youngest player, male or female, to have won so many of the biggest tournaments in the sport.

Two of them came in 2011 as she successfully defended her Ricoh Women's British Open title and wrapped up back to back LPGA Player of the Year awards with four tournaments to spare.

There was no stopping the diminutive Tseng who began this year in a similar vein with three more Tour victories before March was over.

Tseng has described her recent form this season as "consistently bad". Photo: Getty

Yet the now 23-year-old arrives at Hoylake this week bidding for a hat-trick of British Open titles with confidence low and questions hanging over her ability to bounce back from an inexplicable slump in form.

"I've never been this consistently bad so it's a little weird for me," Tseng recently admitted.

Until this year she had missed only three cuts in her entire career but this summer suffered three in four events around the US Open where she finished in a lowly tie for 50th place.

"I started second-guessing myself and was always questioning myself," she said of the mental doubts that have crept into her game. "I have really learned a lot."

Tseng was convinced the slump was at an end when she finished 11th in the LPGA event at Pumpkin Ridge in mid-August.

"Yani is back, the new Yani is coming out now," she stated ahead of a promising start to the Canadian Open where she fired an excellent first round 66. Then Tseng slumped again, closing with rounds of 75, 74 and 74 to slip into a share of 35th place.

So we have yet to see the "new Yani" and it is now a while since we have seen the Yani of old.

Nevertheless, Tseng heads to Hoylake as the world number one and can seek consolation from the way Rory McIllroy has so spectacularly bounced back from what we now know was a mere blip earlier in the men's season.

Perhaps the shifting of the British Open (to avoid clashing with the Olympics) to September has provided better timing and an ideal stage to salvage her year.

Tseng is certainly impatient to return to the winner's circle and reassert her superiority on the women's tour. A sign of her anxiety comes with the acknowledgement of the significance of her next win.

"I think it would be my best trophy ever," said the winner of 26 titles worldwide. "I have the picture in my mind of how emotional I will feel if I win again."

At Carnoustie last year she showed a penchant for links golf and is planning a Woods-like assault on Hoylake after noting the way he triumphed in the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool.

"Tiger always hit iron from the tees and I want to stick with the same strategy as him," Tseng said.

"It's easy to have a good season but if you want to have a great season you have got to win a major tournament."

This week's Championship represents her last chance in 2012. She will face stern opposition from all over the world.

With such strength in Asia along with plenty from the traditional heartlands of golf, the women's game draws from an extraordinary international spread.

Naturally hopes are high for home success as well. Catriona Matthew, a recent winner of the Irish Open, was the last player before Tseng to win the British.

The Scot will, no doubt, draw inspiration from compatriot Andy Murray's triumph in New York as she bids to land her second major title.

England's Melissa Reid will carry huge emotional support as she seeks her first. The Derbyshire player lost her mother in a tragic car accident earlier in the season.

It has been a magnificent year for Scotland's Carly Booth; the 20 year old has won twice on the Ladies European Tour and will attract a strong following if she can put her name on the leaderboard.

Certainly home success would be in keeping with this astonishing year for British sport, but it would also be in keeping with a 2012 that has already witnessed a thrilling GB and Ireland victory in the Curtis Cup.

But for the contrived reset rules in the PGA Tour's play-off series McIlroy would surely have already sewn up the $10million FedEx Cup thanks to his back-to-back victories in Boston and Indianapolis.

With 2,500 points McIlroy still has the best chance but Tiger Woods (2,250), Nick Watney (2,000), Phil Mickelson (1,800) and Brandt Snedeker (1,600) would garner a triumphant haul with a win in Atlanta later this month.

This scenario hardly seems a fair reflection of McIlroy's dominant form throughout the play-offs but the reset is there to make sure the Tour Championship remains relevant at the end of the series.

Whatever happens at East Lake the week after next, Europe know that in McIlroy they can boast the world's best player when they defend the Ryder Cup at the end of the month.

In this form McIlroy certainly has the potential to play the talismanic role at Medinah that used to be the domain of the late Ballesteros through the 1980s and 90s.

They share much in common in terms of the audacity of their golf and the daring way in which they beat high calibre opposition.

There are fundamental differences too. McIlroy's play around the greens is never likely to come close to Seve's but the great Spaniard could never match the Northern Ireland youngster's imperious long game.

And at the heart of McIlroy's current success has been a new-found deadly accuracy with the putter which surfaced when he won the PGA - his second major - at Kiawah Island last month.

Rory McIlroy watches an approach shot at the BMW Championship. Picture: Getty Images

His nerveless holing out has remained. It has emboldened him to play with a brand of confidence that was the hallmark of Ballesteros in his pomp.

This year's Ryder Cup will be the first to be played since the untimely passing of the Spanish legend in May last year.

Memories of Seve will live large in the European team room and captain Jose Maria Olazabal is sure to use them to inspire his side.

The skipper shared with Ballesteros the most successful partnership the Ryder Cup has ever known. The seeds were sown some years earlier when Seve arranged to play with a 15-year-old Olazabal when he'd emerged as a promising junior.

"To be actually playing with such a champion, an Open champion, that was overwhelming," Olazabal told BBC Sport.

"It helped me in the sense of wanting to practise more, wanting to achieve things and believing that we could actually win tournaments and maybe major events. And that was because of Seve.

"I was very shy in those days. You just look at the man who has won the Open and you just look and listen. Obviously I was very quiet through the match. I looked at every shot he hit, the way he hit it but I didn't talk much."

Olazabal was much more eloquent during this interview for BBC Radio 5 live. The twice Masters champion remembers the great deeds of Ballesteros in detail and reflects on his own remarkable career, movingly recalling his own comebacks from injury and illness.

"Heaven," was the word Olazabal used to sum up his feelings when he returned to hitting golf balls after recovering from a crippling form of arthritis that threatened his career in the mid-90s.

"It is not easy to be lying on the couch in severe pain watching your peers playing golf and knowing at that time golf might be history.

"The Ryder Cup somehow helps you to try harder. To be part of that team is huge," Olazabal said of the inspirational effect that his quest to make the 1997 side had on his recovery.

But just hitting balls on a range again was the major turning point. "It was heaven, because I thought my golfing days were over, at my lowest.

"To be able to swing a club, to be able to hit a ball, to be able to see a ball fly that was like being back to being a little kid having fun at home."

The interview will be broadcast on Thursday night at 21:00 BST as we kick off 5 live's build up to the Ryder Cup.

The programme will be packed with memories and stories and we would like to include your favourite recollections, particularly of the great Seve in European colours.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments here and we will endeavour to include as many as possible on Thursday.

And what's the betting that in a couple or so decades from now a similar show will be planned when a legend from Northern Ireland will provide the central talking points?

"Seve and Ollie: A Ryder Cup relationship" - 2100-2230 BST, BBC Radio 5 live, Thursday 13 September.

The programme will feature special interviews with European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal and past captains Colin Montgomerie, Tony Jacklin and Bernard Gallacher.

The 45-year-old has not enjoyed the most spectacular of years on the PGA Tour but has been steady enough to retain a place in the world's top ten.

Stricker is a former student at the University of Illinois which will sit well with the Medinah crowds, he is a very dependable putter and a great team man.

Above all of that he is a ready made partner for Tiger Woods.

Steve Stricker has been chosen as one of the four wild cards to represent the USA in the Ryder Cup. Photo: Getty

And it is Woods who is the real dangerman in this very strong looking American team. The years of flattering to deceive in Ryder Cups are long gone for the former world number one.

America's captain revealed his picks at the headquarters of New York's Stock Exchange. Love can surely bank on Woods to deliver a fund of points to bolster the US bid to regain the trophy.

In the days when Woods was golf's undisputed dominant force it was hard for American skippers to identify a partner who would not be inhibited by the great man.

Woods also found it difficult to accept the dilution of his powers when paired with an inferior golfer.

Whether it was his best friend Mark O'Meara or his greatest rival Phil Mickelson it just didn't work to the expected effect and the American cause would be duly undermined.

In 1999 Woods was given three different partners (Tom Lehman, David Duval and Steve Pate) and three years later Paul Azinger and Mark Calcavecchia tried to forge a successful alliance with the man who was sweeping the game's board individually.

Ironically it was Love who finally proved an effective second day ally for Woods in that clash at the Belfry.

Jim Furyk combined pretty well with him in 2006 and they won half their matches at the K Club, but it is the combination with Stricker that has brought the best out of Woods.

At Celtic Manor two years ago they claimed two out of a three possible points together and both won their singles matches. Their only defeat came at the hands of an inspired foursomes pairing of Luke Donald and Lee Westwood.

A year earlier they won all four matches paired together in the US Presidents' Cup victory over the Rest of the World at Harding Park in San Francisco.

So Love can rest easy that in Stricker he has the ideal partner for the biggest name in his team. Woods was America's leading point scorer in 2006 and after missing the match in 08 team-mate bettered his three out of four points at Celtic Manor.

But it would be wrong to give the impression that this US side is all about one big personality. The striking characteristic is its strength in depth which can be measured in the names who failed to make it into the team.

Hunter Mahan beat Rory McIlroy to win the year's biggest matchplay title at the WGC Championship in February - one of two titles he won this season.

Although still in the world's top twenty, Mahan's recent form has not been good enough to keep pace with those who received the call to arms; Stricker, Brandt Snedeker, Dustin Johnson and Furyk.

Nick Watney's superb victory at the Barclays last week wasn't enough and nor was Rickie Fowler's chutzpah and excellent record when representing his country.

Johnson's prodigious length should suit the anticipated Medinah set up to a tee, Furyk will be the wise grey-beard of the team room, although 15 losses in 27 Ryder Cup matches gives cause for European optimism.

Snedeker is the form man, America's hottest putter and the fourth rookie in Love's team.

The US skipper is entitled to feel he has an excellent blend of youth, experience and form.

Make no mistake this is a formidable team that along with Woods boasts major winners in Bubba Watson, Keegan Bradley, Phil Mickelson, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson and Furyk.

As noted last week, Jose Maria Olazabal's Europe are shaping up very nicely as well, Rory McIlroy's latest brilliant win fuels the feel-good factor.

With all 24 players involved in the world's top 36 for this Ryder Cup, it threatens to be an epic match in the Chicago suburbs.

Both captains have impressed so far; both appear to have made the correct wildcard choices and the right noises.

This particularly applies to Love. He named Stricker last because he decided to announce his wildcards in height order (Dustin Johnson first).

But more significantly he announced his eight qualifiers in alphabetical order. So many of his predecessors have used the order in which their teams qualified.

This can send a subliminally hierarchical message. By using the alphabetical method preferred by European skippers, Love is showing he intends to mould a team of equals rather than a group of individuals.

It's a subtle but significant move that combined with home advantage and strength in depth means America should be regarded as slight favourites to reclaim the famous trophy later this month.

It was no surprise when Jose Maria Olazabal named Ian Poulter and Nicolas Colsaerts to complete a line up that has the strength and blend of talent to make a confident defence of the trophy.

The fact is there is no European who can complain at not being in the side. The automatic qualification period accurately identified the top ten and it is impossible to argue against the captain's choices.

Much will be made of Colsaerts being the only rookie in the side that will travel to Medinah at the end of September.

Olazabal's captain's picks offer experience and a range of combinations for the Ryder Cup. Photo: Getty

But it is not a team of old sweats. Along with the Belgian debutant, Rory McIlroy, Francesco Molinari, Peter Hanson and Martin Kaymer will be playing their first Ryder Cup away from home.

Lee Westwood, who will be making his eighth appearance, is the most experienced member of the European team. Sergio Garcia (5), Poulter (3) and Luke Donald (3) are the only other two have played in more than two matches.

The line up has a potent looking blend of youth and experience. "We have different sorts of players," Olazabal told BBC Sport.

"We have solid players like Luke and Lee and Rory and solid players like G-Mac [Graeme McDowell] and Ian Poulter, where they put their hearts into the matches.

"You have different characters like Francesco [Molinari] and cool characters like Martin [Kaymer] or Peter [Hanson]. So in that regard it is a great combination.

"If the players are playing well you can have different combinations that can make the team even stronger.

"We need to see how players are playing and how they feel about themselves and only then will we make decisions on pairings," Olazabal added.

The laid back Colsaerts is the team's self-confessed "cool dude". Even so he admitted to feeling nerves until he was summoned to the captain's room at the Gleneagles Hotel after the qualifying period closed on the Sunday night.

Face to face, Olazabal delivered the news the Belgian had been so desperate to hear. He is likely to complement well any of his potential partners and shouldn't be regarded as mere four-ball fodder because of his prodigious length.

The main concern surrounds the form of Martin Kaymer. The German is without a top-ten finish since the Malaysian Open in mid-April.

"We had a nice chat. He said to me that after the PGA he has worked hard for the last two weeks trying to get some form," Olazabal said.

"His schedule is to play in Holland and Italy and we will see how good his form is during those two weeks but he is determined to do well."

Olazabal sees no reason to put anyone on standby if Kaymer doesn't show any improvement. "I've played Ryder Cups when I've got to them playing great golf but I remember in '93 at the Belfry I was struggling with my game.

"Actually I made a phone call to Seve Ballesteros to say 'look, anybody else can do a better job than me' and he almost kicked my rear!

"Once you get to that week, because of the atmosphere and your team members, somehow your game improves."

Poulter brings more than points. His enthusiasm and confidence can be infectious and his 73% winning record from three matches is bettered only by Donald, who has won 77% of the Ryder Cup matches he has played in three previous contests.

From now until the matches the fun contest is to dream up potential pairings. The captain may be waiting until the week of the match but we can start now.

McIlroy and McDowell may well be joined at the hip for the week as might Poulter and Justin Rose. Donald with either Garcia or Westwood generates a fearsome combination.

Hanson alongside Paul Lawrie could work in both foursomes and four-balls and the same applies to Colsaerts and Molinari, who are of the same generation on the European Tour.

It is a team that should head to Chicago full of confidence but wary of a strong American side that boasts many of the form players of the year.

Nick Watney's victory at the Barclays thrusts him into the mind of skipper Davis Love. Next week he has to pick four from a list that also includes Hunter Mahan, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Brandt Snedeker.

Love's task is a lot less straightforward than Olazabal's was, but he will be delighted at the calibre of candidates he will be choosing from.

Garcia was a picture of abject misery when he missed the cut for the second major running at the recent US PGA Championship to slip out of the automatic qualifying places for Medinah next month.

Olazabal was moved to seek out his Spanish compatriot and administer a pep talk that appears to have done the trick.

Garcia secured an automatic place in Europe's Ryder Cup team with victory at Wyndham

"We had a little chat at the PGA," Olazabal revealed to BBC Sport. "Hopefully that turned things around a little bit.

"He was struggling on the golf course mainly because of his attitude, not because of his game. To be able to turn things around in a couple of days and put on the show that he did this week says volumes about him.

"I'm just relieved and very, very pleased."

The 32-year-old Spaniard had fallen out of the top 10 automatic qualifiers when Ian Poulter grabbed a share of third place at the US PGA at Kiawah Island.

"Ian played so well at the PGA and overtook him and that also helped, because he knew he was against the ropes," Olazabal added. "He needed to deliver and that shows a lot of character.

"Everyone could see what was going on on the golf course. It was more his attitude. He was very hard on himself, he was down. As soon as he missed a shot it looked like the skies were falling in on him.

"He was not having any fun. That was the main problem, not so much his swing or the way he was striking the ball."

Olazabal watched from afar as Garcia embarked on his last counting event for the Ryder Cup at the Wyndham Championship.

The rain-interrupted tournament finished a day late with Garcia 18 under par and two strokes clear of runner-up Tim Clark.

"I watched him on TV," Olazabal said. "His attitude changed from the PGA.

"He wasn't complaining so much on the golf course and I think that helped a lot."

Europe's skipper is reluctant to take too much credit, but it is clear his words at Kiawah struck a chord with a player who can now look forward to his sixth Ryder Cup.

"I don't think I sorted him out, but obviously I made a couple of points regarding what I wanted to see on the golf course from him," he said. "But I think it was more his decision in the sense that he was off the team for the first time in the whole year and he knew that he had to deliver.

"He knew he had to do something special this week to get back his chances of making the team and at the same time to convince us that he is up for the job."

There can be little doubt of that after his first PGA Tour victory for four years. It is a timely return to form and beneficial effects of the appealing Garcia grin will be felt throughout the European team room at Medinah.

Poulter has been pushed out of the automatic spots but, with his impressive Ryder Cup record and high PGA finish, he has surely already done enough to win a captain's pick.

All the attention at the final qualifying event, this week's Johnnie Walker Championship, will centre on Nicolas Colsaerts.

The big-hitting Belgian needs a win or to finish tied second with no more than two players to knock the struggling Martin Kaymer from the last qualifying berth.

Garcia's victory ends the hopes of an automatic spot of PGA runner-up David Lynn and Rafael Cabrera Bello, of Spain.

Colsaerts, who won the Volvo World Matchplay this year, should be regarded as the favourite to gain a captain's wildcard along with Poulter if he doesn't achieve the requisite high finish at Gleneagles. The 29-year-old from Brussels would be the only rookie in Olazabal's team.

It would be quite a surprise if this is not the way they line up in Chicago next month: Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Graeme McDowell, Paul Lawrie, Francesco Molinari, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Garcia, Peter Hanson, Kaymer, Poulter and Colsaerts.

Westwood, by the way, will be hoping to reap the benefits from the input of his new short game coach Tony Johnstone, the charismatic former Tour player from Zimbabwe, who has replaced the sacked Pete Cowen.

One other golfing topic worthy of comment is Augusta National's decision to at last admit female members in former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and businesswoman Darla Moore.

Make no mistake the club that stages the Masters remains as exclusive as ever but this move undoubtedly shifts an uncomfortable spotlight on two all-male golfing establishments closer to home.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, whose Muirfield course stages next year's Open, will now have to fend off the inevitable questions about their men only policies from a seemingly more isolated position.

The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland was always the most likely candidate to break a sequence that had produced a four-year run of 16 different major winners.

The moment was there to be seized and in the modern game there is no one better in that regard than the sublimely talented McIlroy.

The 2011 US Open champion was heavily criticised at last year's Open when he admitted he would have to wait for the right conditions to win the one major staged on British soil.

Rory McIlroy celebrates winning his second major title after his eight-shot victory in the US PGA at Kiawah Island. Photo: Getty  

McIlroy says those comments were made out of frustration, but despite this win they continue to ring true.

Kiawah Island provided the perfect setting for his game and it is little wonder that when he arrived at the Ocean Course last Monday he soon had a feeling it could be his week.

He stood in the locker room and looked out at the spectacular setting in the knowledge that his game was back in decent shape. He also quickly realised the course he surveyed would suit it to a tee.

Despite being set beside the sea, Kiawah is a "through the air" course, particularly after it had been softened by heavy rains.

The sticky paspalum grass greens and surrounds take bump and run chips out of the equation and that played to McIlroy's strengths.

He fits well with PGA of America course set-ups and had twice finished third in this championship in three previous attempts to land the last major of the year.

Yet he still had to make these advantages count against the strongest major field of the season. Until Ben Crane pulled out on the eve of the championship, the top 103 players in the world were on the start list.

And he also had to battle the tough winds of the second round. His 75 on Friday, three strokes below the average score that day, was as important as his spectacular weekend scores of 67 and 66.

McIlroy made two late birdies in the second round that kept him within two strokes of the lead at the halfway point. They provided the launch pad for the victory that has taken him back to the top of the world rankings.

Inevitably he can now lap up the praise of which his talents are so deserving. US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III is among those who were impressed by the Ulsterman's record breaking eight shot win.

"He played a great week of golf and you have to respect that," Love told BBC Sport. "Any time you run away from one of the best fields in golf it is an incredible story. You have to be impressed and excited for the guy.

"When Rory gets the bit he goes. He's not afraid to go ahead and blow them out of the water.

"I noticed recently he's been anxious. He'd been playing well and was ready to break loose and that's what great champions do. They play well in big tournaments, they turn it loose when it really, really counts.

"Rory has proved he's ready for the limelight, ready for the big stage and as a PGA champion I love this Championship and seeing guys play as well as that to win it."

Love's European counterpart Jose Maria Olazabal will equally have enjoyed the outcome, particularly with the tenacious Ian Poulter forcing his way into the automatic top 10 for the European team.

How significant McIlroy's victory is for Europe's defence of the Ryder Cup next month is less easy to predict, though. Certainly Love doesn't feel that it puts his American team at a disadvantage.

"Does it ultimately matter that Rory's won the PGA when we get to Medinah?" Love said.

"It gives him confidence and it gives his team some confidence but I remember some times when Tiger Woods, Justin Leonard and Davis Love were major champions and it didn't work out for us and we got beaten soundly.

"In the end it only matters how you play those three days."

Europe's domination of the final major means that Love's list of automatic qualifiers didn't change and Phil Mickelson hung on to his place in the team without needing a wildcard.

The American captain will choose four from a list that includes Steve Stricker (almost certain), Jim Furyk (almost certain) Hunter Mahan (probable), Rickie Fowler (probable) and Dustin Johnson (possible).

For Europe Sergio Garcia has been nudged out by Poulter but has the consolation of encouraging words last week from Olazabal. Garcia plays his last counting event on the PGA Tour this week.

Meanwhile David Lynn, the surprise runner up at Kiawah on his first tournament appearance in America, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Nicolas Colsaerts will go to next week's Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles with hopes of forcing their way into the European side.

No such worries for McIlroy, who has long since been guaranteed his place at Medinah.

Instead he can contemplate his new position at the head of the game. The rest of the golfing world lies in his shadow.

Ian Poulter's relatively uneventful season threatens to spring to life this weekend as the Englishman seeks the high US PGA Championship finish he needs to grab an automatic Ryder Cup place.

Currently two places outside the list of those certain to be on duty for Europe at Medinah next month, the 36-year-old Englishman's quest is firmly on course at the halfway stage of the final major of the year.

But after Poulter produced a typically tenacious display in the heavy coastal winds that swept the Ocean Course on the second day at Kiawah Island, he will be more concerned simply with landing his first major than retaining his Ryder Cup place.

He covered the treacherous inward half in 35 strokes and is just one shot behind the leading trio of Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Carl Pettersson.

England's Ian Poulter leads the British challenge at one behind the leading US PGA trio of Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and Carl Pettersson. Photo: Getty

Apart from a third-placed finish at Bay Hill in the spring, the majors have provided the stages for Poulter's best golf in an otherwise unremarkable year.

He was seventh at the Masters and finished tied ninth at the Open last month.

The American-based Briton will relish a late start heading into the weekend here and also the prospect of contesting a major title with Woods who looks so much more composed on the billiard table-smooth Kiawah greens.

Despite missing for par from six feet at the last, the 14-time major champion otherwise putted brilliantly to put himself firmly in contention.

But if he is to end his four-year major drought, Woods will need to tighten his play from tee to green over the weekend because he cannot rely on holing out so reliably in the closing 36 holes.

Woods scrambled superbly to keep his challenge intact and his task now is to banish any ghosts that might remain after failing to capitalise on potentially winning positions at Olympic Club and Lytham where the last two majors were staged.

Rory McIlroy's frailty in a testing wind was again exposed in a disappointing second-round 75. He often lacks control because he cannot use his high ball flight to best effect.

This can be a big asset in calm conditions, but when heavy cross winds such as those that swept the South Carolina coastline come into play, the 23-year-old from Northern Ireland often struggles.

McIlroy loses his greatest strength, which lies in his long game, and this in turn exposes his fallibility around the greens. As well as only hitting half the fairways, he managed to successfully get up and down just four out of eight times in his second round.

Even so, he remains firmly in the mix in what promises to be a thoroughly absorbing sporting sideshow away from the climax of the Olympic Games.

For several big names, though, this was a miserable final round of major championship golf for the year.

Simon Dyson, Matteo Manassero, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar, Nick Watney and Jeff Overton were among those who failed to break 80 in the second round.

For Fowler it is an alarming loss of form. The young American has not registered a top-30 finish since the end of May.

US Ryder Cup skipper Davis Love will be looking for Fowler, who was so impressive in his debut at Celtic Manor two years ago, to bounce back in time for the announcement of his four wildcards on 4 September.

"Why would you wanna leave there with those Olympics going on?" he asked as the rain battered his vehicle in the South Carolina state.

Then he pointed in the direction of the marina and tried to identify Tiger Woods's private yacht, starting to sound excited about the US PGA Championship which starts on Thursday.

"Yes, there is sport outside the Games and that's why I'm here," I said, explaining that there was much to look forward to from golf's last major of the year.

Kiawah Island Resort will host the 2012 US PGA championships. Photo: Getty  

Storms have been battering Kiawah Island, which is staging its first PGA and biggest event since the Ryder Cup was held here in 1991.So despite the stunning ocean views, this 7,676-yard monster - the longest course in major championship history - is not likely to be fast and firm for a field that boasts the top 103 players in the world.

But despite a line-up that constitutes the highest quality field of any of the majors and my upbeat message to the taxi driver, this tournament continues to feel the least significant of the big four.

As is always the case, it comes too soon after the Open and this year in particular it is overshadowed by the London Games.

So it would be easy to underplay the significance of this week's golf were it not for the looming presence of the Ryder Cup on the sporting calendar.

For many of the leading players in Europe and America, this is a very important championship: it is the last qualifying event for the US golfers and time is also running out for European hopefuls.

Ironically, the two opposing captains could be forgiven for hoping the PGA is dominated by internationals not eligible for the Ryder Cup. Both Davis Love and Jose Maria Olazabal must be delighted with the players who currently head their respective qualifying tables.

Woods is the only American to have so far sealed his position for the match which will be played at Medinah at the end of September.

The other seven currently occupying automatic spots represent many of the form players of the year: Jason Dufner, Bubba Watson, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson.

Love will have four wild card picks to announce on 4 September and unless someone makes a dramatic move this week, it is hard to imagine the American captain straying too far from the next four on the list; Hunter Mahan, Steve Stricker, Rickie Fowler and Jim Furyk.

This quartet will want to take chance out of the equation and seal an automatic berth with a high finish here at Kiawah.

The same applies to European stars for whom this week is probably the last realistic chance of forcing the issue.

For the last four Ryder Cup contests, the European players who have accumulated the most world ranking points have been the first names on the team sheet.

But now the leading five earners on the European Tour during the year-long qualifying period take the first five places, making the last counting tournament less significant.

The best way to make a late surge is through the world ranking points list that provides the second set of five players on the team list. But there probably won't be enough ranking points on offer at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles later this month to affect the line-up.

Certainly this is the case for the American-based players intent on making progress on the PGA Tour rather than travelling to Scotland.

Martin Kaymer and Sergio Garcia are most vulnerable on the world points list, while Ian Poulter, two places off automatic qualifying, and Padraig Harrington, who is nine spots away, need big weeks at the PGA to be certain of retaining their places in Europe's team.

As it stands, the line-up looks strong with Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Graeme McDowell, Paul Lawrie and Francesco Molinari occupying the five spots on the European money list.

Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Peter Hanson, Kaymer and Garcia are the five heaviest-ranking points scorers. Captain Olazabal would surely be a happy man if he has to pick two more to supplement that list.

He will be a lot clearer on the make-up of his team once the US PGA has been completed.

Golf might be under the radar this week, but the tournament they call "Glory's Last Shot" still carries a great deal of significance.

He was in the players' box at Wimbledon supporting girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki as she played her first round match of the women's tennis at the Olympics.

The Olympic spirit in the broadcasting world can best be summed up as all hands to the pump. For me that means a return to covering tennis a decade on from leaving the sport to report on golf.

McIlroy was a rare familiar face in the Centre Court crowd. The inescapable thought was that four years hence he is likely to be an Olympian rather than a mere member of a competitor's entourage.

Golfer Rory McIlroy and his girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki arriving at the Olympic Village. Photo: Getty

Living by the uniform rules of the International Olympic Committee is a rather different prospect compared with the cosseted worlds they inhabit on the European and PGA Tours.

Here at Wimbledon the blueprint that works so smoothly on an annual basis at the All England Championships has been ripped up.

"It makes you appreciate how well Wimbledon is run," grumbled one player disaffected by the different protocols in place at an Olympics.

Another high-profile star has been heard ranting about ticket allocations while the media moan about being forced through unfamiliar gates and familiar routes being put off limits by road closures around the All England Club.

Jobsworths have a capital J during the Games regardless of who you are and this creates an environment certainly alien to golf's pampered pros.

But amid the moans and groans there is a feeling of gratitude that tennis is a member of the Olympic family. From 2016 golf should feel the same way.

Golf's inclusion in the Rio Games will be good for the sport and for the Olympics.

"The way I look at it is that if Tiger Woods wants to win a gold medal then that increases the value of the medals I won," Sir Steve Redgrave told me around the time golf was regaining its place in the Games.

Be under no illusions golf has been included because, like tennis, it is a lucrative sport. The modern Olympian ideals carry a price and if you have any doubt about that remember it can only be paid with a certain credit card.

Golf will be good for Olympic business, but it also brings a sense of fair play and integrity that the IOC is so keen to promote.

Benefits of inclusion are already being felt by golf. The campaign to become an Olympic sport led to the introduction of drug testing and the game is now being made to live by the standards of other sports.

Funding and development resources are more available across the globe and Olympic status gives a massive boost to growing the game in parts of the world where golf has yet to make an impact.

Over the next four years Rio will become one of the central sources of golfing story-lines.

At the moment the plan is for 72 hole individual strokeplay tournaments for men and women in separate weeks of the Games. But this may change as organisers consider the possibility of including a team dimension.

There are plenty more issues. Will caddies receive medals? Don't they play a similar role to a rowing cox? But what if they are a different nationality to their player?

What will happen to the 2016 golfing calendar? August's PGA Championship has to move dates because it can't clash with the Games. This is complicated further by Wimbledon moving a week later from 2014.

This move appears to prevent the Open from shifting a week earlier to help
ease schedule congestion.

And returning to McIlroy, who was wearing Danish red to support his girlfriend here, what colours will he be wearing if he qualifies.

It's a difficult decision for the Northern Ireland star. Three years ago he said he thought he would play for Britain but now it's a question he avoids.

McIlroy has represented Ireland in the World Cup and north and south of the border the game is administered by the Golfing Union of Ireland.

The time will come when he will have to come off the Danish fence and declare his hand. His relationship with Wozniacki means he's familiar in Wimbledon green, will he be going for gold in the green of Ireland?