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Justin Rose has joined the growing number of players backing Padraig Harrington for the 2020 Ryder Cup captaincy.

The 2013 US Open champion believes that it’s the Irishman’s time after three successive stints as a Ryder Cup vice-captain under Paul McGinley in 2014, Darren Clarke in 2016 and Thomas Bjorn at Le Golf National in September.

However, while Harrington appears to be the obvious choice this time around, the Englishman believes that it may become difficult for the European Tour to choose future captains, with too many options but not enough matches.

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“I’d go with Padraig,” said Rose. “I think it’s his time. Obviously there’s a sequence of guys who are eligible for it and then you’ve got to think down the line who is going to be next and where the next crop of players fall in.

“There’s a bunch of guys who deserve it but there’s not enough Ryder Cups for everybody to get it.

“I think with someone like Padraig who is a three-time major champion, his record certainly suggests that he deserves it. He’s been brilliant in the team room in his vice-captaincy role. No job is too small. He’s happy to muck in and do the most menial of task or the biggest of tasks.

“I heard a story this week that Thorbjorn [Olesen] was very disappointed about not playing on the Saturday and Padraig was the one that was around him for most of that day and made his day much better, much easier.”

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Tommy Fleetwood, meanwhile, was far less forthcoming about who he’d like to lead the team.

“I have no preference at all,” he said. “Padraig looks like the frontrunner but I really have zero preference. I think there are a few guys that would do an amazing job, and just from my experience, any of the vice-captains that I had in my one Ryder Cup would be a fantastic asset to Europe.”

The announcement on who the 2020 Ryder Cup will be is expected next month.