Rory McIlroy has called for Paul McGinley to captain the European Ryder Cup team in 2014.

In contgratulating Tom Watson for being named as the US captain today, the world number one says he would like to see McGinley going-up against Watson at Gleneagles.

McGinley, Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn are thought to be the contenders for the defence of the title in Scotland in two years time, but McIlroy has given his backing to the Dubliner, who was the European hero in 2002. Instead, McIlroy has said that he thinks Clarke should get the job in 2016 saying that his fellow Ulster man would "make a great captain in the US".

Watson is the first repeat captain for the US Team since Jack Nicklaus in 1987, when the Ryder Cup was played on his home course of Muirfield Village in Ohio. One of the most respected figures in golf worldwide, he becomes the seventh US Captain to get more than one shot at the job.