Olazabal in mood to bridge gap

Jose-Maria Olazabal tried everything to play down his prospects of bridging the 23-year gap since he last won the Irish Open Championship.

But, if his tee shots over the next couple of days reach the standard of the rest of his game so far this week, one of the greatest victories of his illustrious career may yet be achieved by the 47-year-old Spaniard.

Rounds of 68 and 69 at Carton House have put him in the ideal position over the weekend and were he to lift the trophy tomorrow, the achievement would have to rank among the most courageous fightbacks from serious illness in sporting history.

An overstatement of the facts? Hardly. After all, there were fears Olazabal might never walk properly or even at all after a severe dose of rheumatoid polyarthritis in three joints of his right foot and two in his left. The problem has persisted on and off from the mid ’90s onward during a period in which he won his second Masters title in 1999 but which nearly cost him the captaincy of last year’s Ryder Cup team.

Only a couple of years ago, he admitted: “I’ve been in a lot of pain. When you struggle to lift a glass of water, it’s quite severe.”

Yesterday, however, he revealed with a broad smile “right now I only have a few aches and pains,” and they hardly showed up in a round that contained six birdies and could have been better were it not for a few wayward tee shots that made holding the elevated, sloping greens a little more difficult.

“I’m very happy with the score, but I know I must improve my driving,” he acknowledged. “There are two more days to go and the goal is to keep improving my game and put myself in position on Sunday. I have no idea what will be required to win. A lot depends on the weather.”

Olazabal’s return to the kind of form that earned him 23 European Tour titles (the most recent, the Majorca Classic in 2005), four US PGA tour tournaments, two in Japan, and, of course, a couple of Masters has been helped by his current well being and having successfully fulfilled the many duties of a Ryder Cup captain.

“That’s all over for now and I can spend time on my game,” he stressed. “Healthwise, and even though I have suffered a lot, at the moment, I cannot complain. I have a few aches here and there but overall, I’m in pretty good shape. It’s fantastic to be in this position in a very special event. The Irish Open is close to my heart going back many years.

“I kept working on my game with one goal, to give myself the opportunity to be in this situation. I never lost hope. That’s why I’ve spent hours and hours on the driving range hitting balls although I have to be honest, the driver is the weak link and in fact it always was. Nowadays, there’s a bigger demand on that club than there was years back. You need to hit it far enough and straight enough.”

It is also difficult to avoid the impression that the Spaniard’s prospects are helped by his liking for this country and his relationship with the galleries. He has been coming to the Irish Open since his amateur days and has returned at every opportunity in the meantime.

“The weather here doesn’t matter, whether it’s good or bad,” he emphasised. “I enjoy coming here. The golf courses in this country are great and the crowds come in big number and their knowledge of the game is fantastic. They really appreciate the shots and make us feel really comfortable on the course.”

It remains to be seen whether Olazabal can hang on to the leaders. He lays most emphasis on the quality of his game rather than his failure to win over the last eight years: “It all goes down to how well you play. If your game is sharp, I believe you can face up to any challenge.”

Having been the celebrated partner of Seve Ballesteros in most of his seven Ryder Cup appearances and skippered the side to a remarkable triumph at Oakland Hills last September, Olly’s eyes light up every time the event is mentioned. And nothing has pleased him more than to see Justin Rose, one of the true heroes of Europe’s latest success, show the way in the recent US Open.

“It’s great when any European wins an event like that but for me maybe it was a little more so because of what he went through in his early career,” he observed. “He never lost faith. He kept on working, became a better player and I have to take my hat off to him. As for Gleneagles next year, it all depends on how those guys play on a given week. That’s what they did the last tim, and hopefully they will do that for Paul McGinley next year.”

Olazabal’s hands are renowned for their many calluses, the result of hours spent on the practice tee. And yet, when asked if he was now heading for the range, he quipped: “What a silly question.”

And then he was gone off into the crowd leaving his many admirers to wonder if he couldbridge that. You suspect that no more popular man could be crowned Irish Open champion tomorrow!