Seve Ballesteros, strangely subdued in the wake of a remarkable triumph at Valderrama, expressed a change of heart yesterday about returning to captain Europe's Ryder Cup team in Ireland in 2005. Instead, he feels the job should go to an Irishman, a former Ryder Cup player such as Christy O'Connor Jnr.

Either way, he insisted that there could be no question of retaining the captaincy for the defence of the trophy at Brookline, Boston, in 1999. Instead, he named Bernhard Langer as an ideal successor. "Bernhard is a very special man and I'm sure he would do a fantastic job," said the Spaniard.

"I don't know if he would be prepared to take it. Anyway, that is a matter for the Ryder Cup committee. My wish is to continue playing. I am going to the German Masters this week; I will play with Jose-Maria (Olazabal) in the Perrier (pairs), then the Oki Pro-Am, the Volvo Masters and maybe Japan after that."

His backing of Langer is richly ironic given the events building up to the 1981 matches when the German was reported to be prominent in keeping Ballesteros out of the European side. It was a time when the Spaniard absented himself from European Tour activity because of a row over appearance money.

Either way, the captaincy for 1999, along with a possible change in the qualifying process (there is a concerted push towards adopting the Sony World Rankings for that purpose), will come up at the next meeting of the Ryder Cup committee in November.

During the euphoria surrounding the European triumph on Sunday, Ballesteros spoke of returning to captain the team when the event is staged in Ireland. But he said yesterday: "I think the job should go to an Irishman - maybe Christy O'Connor Jnr or somebody else.

"This is only a thought. I'm not trying to persuade the committee. But whatever player they would name to lead the team in Ireland would have my 100 per cent support."

He then spoke of the special pressures which he had to endure in captaining the team in his native country. "There is a lot of ignorance about the game of golf here in Spain," he said. "And that also applies to some of the writers.

"This has resulted in a lot of controversy which has been very tough for me - more than you people think. Our team had messages of congratulation from Tony Blair (the British Prime Minister) and from the Minister of Sport in Ireland. But there has been nothing from the Spanish authorities. No message from a Spanish official - not one."

Then, pointedly, he said: "But things would be different in Ireland. The people there are very well educated about golf."

In fact there has been much talk here of the Ryder Cup in Ireland since Jim McDaid, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, headed a press conference in the media centre last Thursday. Mark Mortell, the chairman of Bord Failte, was not present at that meeting but arrived later in the week.

Commenting on his presence here, Ken Schofield, executive director of the European Tour said yesterday: "In Mark Mortell, we in the European Tour have found someone we are delighted to do business with. Obviously we will be meeting regularly over the coming years but, more immediately, we will certainly be getting together this side of Christmas."

Meanwhile, Ballesteros seemed particularly proud of the way in which he controlled his emotions during the climactic moment of Sunday's battle. "I was the only one who didn't cry," he said proudly. "There may have been times out on the course when it looked like I was crying, but that was only the rain."

But wasn't there a tear or two at the players' press conference afterwards when his erstwhile Ryder Cup partner, Olazabal, broke down while attempting to thank his captain? Ballesteros acknowledged that there was.

He then revealed that he gave his compatriot the promise of a wild-card place in the team, when they met on the putting green at The K Club during the Smurfit European Open last month. "At that time, he was 12th in the points table and I told him that if he didn't earn an automatic place I would pick him," he said. "I have been criticised for not communicating with my players, but you can see that this was not the case.

"That moment last night brought back memories of the Ryder Cup matches we had played together. Yes, it was emotional. Chema (Olazabal's sobriquet) lives about a two-hour drive from my home and three weeks before Dubai (last February), I invited him to my home for lunch and to play some golf.

"I tell him that he must play. I think he was afraid to come back, but I insist that Dubai (February 27th to March 2nd) was the right place for him, because it is a flat course. I tell him not to plan a formal tournament schedule for the season, but to play one tournament at a time.

"I told him I wanted him back in the Ryder Cup. That he was important for me and the team. I also tell him that if he didn't qualify, I would trust him to tell me if he was fit to play."

It was a trust that Ballesteros would have been unlikely to place in any other golfer - a trust based on 15 Ryder Cup matches together, 11 of which they won while two others were halved as they became the fearsome Spanish Armada.

The reward for the captain was the offer from Olazabal that he was prepared to play in all five matches last weekend. Of the old hands, Nick Faldo offered the same commitment, as did Colin Montgomerie. Jesper Parnevik was also prepared to do it, but Ballesteros still left him out of the second fourball session on Saturday morning, because it would have meant playing 45 holes that day, due to a carry over from Friday's foursomes.

It was clearly an extremely demanding week for the European skipper. By his own admission, he didn't sleep at all on Saturday night, worrying about the way the singles would work out. Yet, through it all, Ballesteros still found time to think of himself as a player, and of getting his game back into shape.

"After the opening ceremony last Thursday, I went back to San Roque and worked on the practice ground. I believe I can win before the end of the year. You may think that's crazy, but I really mean it. I have suffered long enough. Sooner or later the momentum has to switch."

Looking at Ballesteros in the wake of what was clearly a magnificent triumph for him on a personal level, one couldn't help feeling that he was treating it simply as a job well done. Literally a thankless job, where the appreciation of many of his compatriots was concerned.

In effect, he saw it through with the sort of professionalism he would have applied to a major championship. Except that in this case he was representing the aspirations of an entire continent.