Lee Westwood hopes to use Paris duel as warm-up for bid to be Ryder Cup captain in 2020

Westwood has not given up hope of playing against the United States for an 11th time, equalling the record of his first Ryder Cup partner Nick Faldo.

The 43-year-old also still needs two-and-a-half points to overtake Faldo as Europe’s all-time record points scorer in the biennial contest after failing to win any of his three matches in the defeat at Hazeltine a fortnight ago.

Westwood admits he tried to “wipe the Ryder Cup” out of his mind at last week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, but the former world No 1 could not avoid questions on the topic ahead of the British Masters, which gets under way at The Grove today.

“I thought it was a good week. I thought both teams played well,” said Westwood, who was one of captain Darren Clarke’s three wild cards. “The Americans did to us what we’ve been doing to them for the last 20 years.

“They holed a lot of good putts and it was a good atmosphere to play in, as well, generally.”

Asked if he still wanted to be European captain at Whistling Straits in 2020, Westwood added: “Yeah, I think so. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the captain next time around.

“That’s too soon for me, but I think 2020 is definitely on my radar. There are a lot of candidates for it but I’ll be putting my name in the ring for sure. It’s something I’d like to do.”

“I’ve played on 10 and witnessed 10 different forms of captaincy, so I’m pretty well qualified to be a captain I would have thought. I’ve played a lot in it and I’d like to maybe play again, but if I can’t play again I’d like to do the assistant captain’s role, (see) what goes on behind the scenes, although I paid a lot of attention to what Darren and the assistant captains were doing this year.

“I don’t think necessarily you have to be an assistant captain (before being captain), but it probably helps. Another angle to see it from, more experience.”