Olazabal closing in on Ryder Cup comeback
Jose Maria Olazabal is up to fourth in Europe’s Ryder Cup race – and Sergio Garcia for one would love to see him stay there right until the finishing line is reached.
When Olazabal made his last appearance against the Americans in 1999 Garcia made his first and it looked as if the baton might have been passed from one to the other.
But in the Mallorca Classic yesterday the 39-year-old ended more than three and a half years without a win, pushing defending champion Garcia into a share of second place with England’s Paul Broadhurst and yet another Spaniard, Jose Manuel Lara.
Garcia, who is himself now second on the points table behind Colin Montgomerie, said: “It would be great if he made it back into the Ryder Cup.
“He’s always a guy you like to have on the team – not only for the way he plays, but also his spirit and how well he handles himself.
“The beautiful thing about the European team is that everybody helps in the team room. It gives us an edge – there is probably more quality in the American team, but we definitely know how to get together.”
Olazabal, who with Seve Ballesteros formed the most successful partnership in cup history, left Boston six years ago with a sour taste in his mouth.
He was the man who had to wait to putt after members of the American team charged onto the 17th green when Justin Leonard sank a 45-foot putt.
The double Masters champion had a chance to keep the contest alive from around half the distance, but once the commotion eventually died down he missed and his birdie at the last to halve could not save Europe.
He is expected to be captain in America in 2012 – after the already-named Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo and then probably Montgomerie – but now he is on course to win a seventh cap.
Olazabal breezed to a five-stroke win at Pula, a course he is in the process of re-designing.
“Yes it’s his course and he has a little more knowledge of it than most of us,” added Garcia. “But at the end of the day you still have to hit the shots and hole the putts.”
Olazabal said: “It feels very good, very special. It took quite a long time (to win again), but we did it and I am very happy.
“I have been working on physique, trying to get stronger.” On the Ryder Cup position he stated: “I am in the right direction. I have to keep playing well for a few tournaments and I will be there.”
Olazabal’s joy at ending his barren spell was matched by England’s Sam Little, who saved his tour career by getting up and down from a bunker at the final hole.
Little went into the weekend needing to be 24th at worst to edge past Scot David Drysdale, who had missed the halfway cut.
The closing par – he splashed out to three feet – put him in a six-way tie for 21st, earned him just over €16,300 and took him into the all-important 116th position on the Order of Merit, a mere €591 ahead of Drysdale.
“That was horrendous,” said Little, from Rickmansworth. “With five to play I reckoned I might need two or three birdies. I just didn’t know.”
As it turned out five pars did the job, although Swede Mattias Eliasson would have sent him back to the qualifying school along with Drysdale if he had birdied the last two holes to snatch the fourth place he needed.
Amazingly, Little picked up €33,000 at last month’s Dunhill links championship after coming in as replacement for Drysdale, who pulled out with an injury just over an hour before he was due to tee off.
Former Ryder Cup player Jarmo Sandelin and ex-World Cup Scot Raymond Russell, fourth in the 1998 Open, were among others who lost their cards.
