Olazabal’s men summon spirit of Seve in Medinah miracle

When Jose Maria Olazabal delivered his final team speech on Saturday night, he would have been buoyed by the late heroics of his men who, for much of the day, looked and performed like a dispirited bunch of also rans.

While his pride would have been dented by the gulf in the performances between the two teams over the opening days, now was not the time to abandon his trait of never giving up.

Instead, it was time to invoke the spirit of Seve Ballesteros, empowering them to find a way out of the hole that they had dug for themselves.

Motivation would not have been an issue for the European players. They were guaranteed to be hurting and yesterday was possibly the last chance for many of them to stand up and be counted.

The task at hand (overturning a 10-6) deficit had never been achieved by a European team before but Olazabal would have known it was possible. After all, hadn’t he personally experienced it in reverse when he was part of the side that squandered the same score on the final day at Brookline in 1999?

So while everyone around the team would have been preaching the need for creating early momentum, the reality was that any escape was only achievable if the players backed themselves and went out determined to deliver.

The early signs were very encouraging. The European body language looked great and there was a determination in their faces and their voices in the interviews that suggested they were not prepared to go down quietly. They were going to make the US earn victory.

A fast start by the Europeans no doubt raised the heartbeat of Davis Love III and his vice-captains a notch, but these are experienced campaigners who understand the ebb and flow of Ryder Cup singles matches.

Momentum was suddenly with the Europeans as Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy subdued the histrionics of the US crowd-pleasers Bubba Watson and Keegan Bradley.

Suddenly it seemed as if life was a whole lot more difficult for the American players. Gone was much of the fist pumping. Errant tee shots suddenly became a liability and putts became so much harder to read and convert. Team Europe had arrived playing a brand of golf unrecognisable from the first couple of days. How Seve would have approved! How Olazabal must have shook his head in frustration!

This would have been a very hard week for Olazabal, for so many reasons as was evidenced by the way the tension of the affair was etched across the strained features of his face. His performance as captain will of course invite scrutiny but he was powerless to do anything about the poor performances of many of his star players over the opening couple of days.

What we have learned from this year’s Ryder Cup in particular is the importance of creating dominant foursome and fourball partnerships. Experience helps but team chemistry counts more and rookies (free of past baggage) can more than contribute to a winning cause.

Course set-up can give a team a significant strategic advantage if used properly but probably the biggest talking point apart from the player performances will be whether or not the Europeans will attempt to change the qualifying and selection process to match that of the Americans, who have four wild card picks as opposed to two for the Europeans.

This year Davis Love III took full advantage of his four picks to pick form players and proven partnerships.

This year we have seen the importance of power in the professional game but the 39th Ryder Cup essentially became a putting competition.

It is hard to understand the pressure on the European players this week. On each hole they were greeted by thousands of baying fans shouting encouragement for their rivals. It is to their eternal credit they came out on top.