ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (PA) -- The European Tour Tournament Committee met for almost four hours Tuesday night, but could not decide who will captain the European Ryder Cup team in 2010.

The committee will meet again in Dubai on Jan. 28 and plans to announce its choice the following day.

Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal and Britons Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle are the frontrunners to lead Europe at Wales' Celtic Manor in 20 months' time, where they will want to regain the trophy they lost this year in the United States.

The postponement came as no surprise, as officials had indicated that they were not near a consensus in recent weeks. In fact, some observers thought the decision might be pushed back as late as May.

"I'm not naming any names, but we are not holding out for anybody," said Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, chairman of the tournament committee, before the meeting. "We need to think long and hard about it.

"The list of candidates is long and the longer we take the longer it will probably get," he explained. "We want to go through all the factors that come into being Ryder Cup captain. There have been a lot of feelings expressed about this captaincy and the last one, and we want that to settle.

"We are going to take our time," he added. "There are some very good candidates for many years to come."

Olazabal, captain of the European team beaten by Asia in the Royal Trophy in Bangkok last weekend, said there: "I would love to be considered, I'm not going to deny that. I would love to be playing and I think maybe it is too soon, but time will tell."

Lyle, 2004 captain Ian Woosnam of Wales and Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain have also had their names mentioned, and Lyle has the support of Colin Montgomerie, a member of the tournament committee.

Woosnam, of course, was the subject of an astonishing attack by Bjorn after the Welshman named Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood as his two wild cards for the K Club clash.

"Not my finest hour and that will hang over me for ever," stated Bjorn. "But things have to move on. You get emotional at times and I regret what happened, but I have dealt with it the best way I can and I am sure it's not at the forefront of Woosie's mind."

Bjorn was fined for his comments, but his standing rose again when he was chosen to succeed Jamie Spence as chairman of the players' body.

He went on to have his worst-ever season on the European Tour, dropping outside the top 100 on the Order of Merit and to 200th in the world, but puts that down to short game problems and a loss of confidence rather than the burdens of his new position.

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