Olly hurt as Euro stars to skip Seve Trophy

JOSE-MARIA OLAZABAL has mixed feelings this week.

While delighted with the quality of entry for the Omega Swiss Masters, which begins on Thursday, the European Ryder Cup captain must be bitterly disappointed at the prospect of several high ranking players declining to compete in next month’s Seve Trophy.

The Swiss Masters is the first counting tournament on the European Tour Ryder Cup points list for the October, 2012 clash with the Americans at Medinah, Chicago. It offers €2m in prize money and a similar number of Ryder Cup points. The good news for Olazabal is that six members of the successful 2010 side; Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy, Miguel-Angel Jimenez and the Molinari brothers, Francesco and Edoardo, are all in the field along with the brilliant young Italian Matteo Manassero and British Open champion Darren Clarke.

Olazabal cannot be too displeased at the absence of four other members of last year’s winning team; Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Pádraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell along with other strong contenders Justin Rose, Robert Karlsson and Sergio Garcia, all of whom are involved in the ultra competitive FedEx Cup play-off series on the US PGA Tour.

Donald, fifth in the points list going into this week’s Deutsche Bank event in Boston, and Rose (27th); Garcia (53rd) and Poulter (78th) are all based in America and probably wouldn’t have played in Switzerland anyway. But this quartet along with Karlsson (46th); Harrington (80th) and McDowell (84th), of the 100 FedEx Cup survivors, would still do well to heed the words of last year’s successful European captain Colin Montgomerie.

He warned: “Base yourself in the US and you are taking a risk to make the Ryder Cup team.

“Straight forward, if you don’t make the top 10, you can’t rely on a pick.”

That is more pertinent given Olazabal has reduced the number of wild cards from three to two. Harrington was one of Monty’s picks last year and has promised to play more counting events in the lead-up to the 2012 contest to guard against a repeat scenario. Once the FedEx is over, he will take a week or two off before returning to his home circuit while still intending to play both tours in 2012. McIlroy will do likewise.

Of more pressing concern to the Spaniard is the Seve Trophy at St Nom La Breteche, Versailles, (September 15-18). Seve Ballesteros and Olazabal will always be remembered for their successful and charismatic Ryder Cup partnership and the pair’s devotion to the European cause. As one of Montgomerie’s vice-captains at Celtic Manor last October, Olazabal was instrumental in setting up the telephone conversation in which the ailing Ballesteros issued an emotional rallying call to the European players, many of whom later admitted to shedding tears in the aftermath. There was much the same reaction from them when Seve passed away in May and so it was little wonder that Olazabal believed the majority of those same stars would turn up to play in the event that honours his name.

Sadly, it appears many have not included the event in their schedules, prompting Olazabal to write to several urging a change of heart. Significantly, the recent announcement of Jean van de Velde and Paul McGinley as the rival captains made no reference to the composition of either team.

Those leading the points list are: Continent of Europe — Martin Kaymer, Robert Karlsson, Edoardo Molinari, Anders Hansen, Alvaro Quiros, Matteo Manassero, Miguel-Angel Jimenez, Sergio Garcia, Peter Hanson and Edoardo Molinari. Britain & Ireland — Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Martin Laird, Darren Clarke and Justin Rose.

The teams are finalised on Monday.