Skipper Ollazabal: Europe Ryder Cup team ready to defend title

Europe Ryder Cup Captain Jose Maria Olazabal says he is no Seve, but he believes he has the firepower to emulate his great friend and countryman and lead a successful European defence of the Ryder Cup at Medinah. “There will never be another Seve in terms of a talisman. The next best thing is to have Olazabal as the captain. He will deliver the Seve message,” said former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher. “He is not a golfer who is branded up like other golfers. He has very high morals, he won’t sell himself. He is very strong-minded and this will come out next week.” The 12-man team Olazabal brings with him to Chicago on the face of it looks as good as any in recent times. Gone are such as Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington, all stalwarts of the European team for the last 15 years. But in have come a golden generation of younger European players who are now in their prime - Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer and above all else the current best player in the world, 23-year-old Rory McIlroy. Put them in the mix alongside such Ryder Cup rocks as Lee Westwood, winning his eighth cap, Sergio Garcia, taking his sixth, and Graeme McDowell who ensured the winning point at the 17th hole in the last match out two years ago at Celtic Manor, Newport and you have a powerful brew. Eight of the 12 players have winning records in the Ryder Cup (against none in the US team) and recent history is on the European side having won six out of the last eight contests and four out of the last five. Davis Love says a Super Bowl-like atmosphere and Medinah’s home-course advantage will empower the Americans and enable them to reclaim the Ryder Cup from their European rivals. The 48-year-old US skipper knows all about the pressure of a Ryder Cup, having competed in a half dozen, beginning with his first in 1993. He also knows about winning major championships, capturing the 1997 PGA Championship. “It is our Olympics or our Super Bowl,” said Love. “It is the biggest thing you can play in golf. “It is not the same as the PGA Tour where you play week after week after week and then there is a major. It is more pressure. It is something where we are scared to lose and we want the Cup back.” The Americans have lost four of the last five Ryder Cups, including the last one in 2010 at Celtic Manor Resort in Wales. Their last victory was four years ago at Valhalla in Kentucky and they hope playing on home soil in front of raucous partisan galleries will give them the edge this time.