Passion and pride Olly’s buzzwords

Paul Azinger wrote a book on how he won the Ryder Cup for America four years ago and our screens have been full of former captains pouring forth on how they did it but for all the talk, nothing can quite prepare José Maria Olazabal and Davis Love III for what is about to unfold.

Both may be born to lead their respective teams but for all their past achievements in the game, Europe and the USA’s captains at Medinah Country Club are taking a giant leap into the unknown this weekend.

That is not to say they lack experience, and very specific experience in terms of numbers of their combined 13 Ryder Cup appearances, but suddenly the buck stops with them. So what will they be like when the pressure accumulates on their shoulders and what makes a good captain? Accepting that you’re not going to get everything right is half the battle says Ryder Cup veteran Lee Westwood.

“This is my eighth Ryder Cup and eighth different captain, so I’ve experienced more than any other player I think in Ryder Cup history, different captains at different Ryder Cups, and seen the way different captains do it,” Westwood said. “You’re not going to get it right all the time.”

Still, both Love and Olazabal have been around the block enough times to know what makes a good captain, sort of.

“Well, it’s hard to say but I think the most important thing is the passion that everyone brings into the team and into the game itself. I think that’s the most important part,” Olazabal said. “You have to make your players believe that you’re playing for something really special, that it’s a unique moment.

“It only happens, you know, once every two years. And just let them realise that there are moments that are unique to this event; that it won’t happen anywhere else.

“You try to pass that on to the players. That’s what I learned from Seve, from Bernhard, and all of the past captains. You know, you have to be really prepared to give your best and your all for this week.”

Love picked up where Olazabal left off, adding: “I think you have to tell them how big it is and then tell them how not to treat it as something completely different. It’s still a golf match, and you want them to go out and enjoy it and show off and have those moments that Paul Azinger talked about that only happen in a Ryder Cup, that can only happen under that kind of pressure.

“You know, David Duval pumping his fist and running around the green; or Paul Azinger’s passion or Corey Pavin’s chip-ins; those things just don’t happen in a Tour event, or sometimes very rarely in the last nine holes of a Major Championship.

“But there will be a guy jumping up and down and celebrating on the third hole Friday morning, and it’s going to be that kind of passion, and you have to prepare them. It’s different, but it’s fun and it’s exciting, and they need to soak it all in.”

Olazabal has twice served Europe as a vice-captain, all on his lonesome as Nick Faldo’s number two when Azinger ruled supreme at Valhalla in 2008 and then as a late addition to Colin Montgomerie’s backroom team when he had been preparing for a ceremonial, ambassadorial role at Celtic Manor in 2010. Both have taught the Spaniard much.

“Every time you’re part of a Ryder Cup team, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing or if you’re a captain or a vice captain; you always learn from it. It was a great learning experience and it was a unique Ryder Cup in the sense that, you know, everybody had to play because of the rain delay.

“There was not any other chance trying to regain the number of matches that we were trying to play. And it was nice to be part of it; the same way at Valhalla. I was on my own there and I was really close to the players, and you learn from each Ryder Cup in that regard.”

As a long-serving caddie to a string of Ryder Cup players from Seve Ballesteros and Darren Clarke to Lee Westwood, Billy Foster has seen Olazabal’s contribution at close hand. He will miss this year’s contest through injury but has no doubt the Spaniard has what it takes to lead.

“He’ll be the best skipper there’s ever been. End of. Irrelevant of the result,” Foster told Sky Sports.

“He’s a man with passion and desire for the Ryder Cup and it’s only matched by Seve really. I was in the locker room in 2008 at Valhalla and I was sat next to José. Nick Faldo gave his speech the Saturday night before the singles but that passion and desire didn’t seem to wear with me so I kicked José under the table and said: ‘You’ve got to get up and say something’. He stood up and gave a 15-minute speech and, to say English is his second language, the speech he gave... He had half the players in tears. The passion and the commitment he’s got is absolutely brilliant. There isn’t a better man for the job.”