LONDON (AP) — Team Europe captain Luke Donald has named José María Olazábal as his third vice captain for the Ryder Cup later this year.
The biennial contest will be held in what is expected to be a raucous atmosphere at Bethpage Black in New York from September 26-28.
Olazábal said he hesitated at first when Donald approached him.
“I have to be honest, I thought about it for a while because being in New York, it’s not going to be easy," Olazábal said on Wednesday. “But the Ryder Cup is very close to my heart. I have wonderful memories about this event.”
The 59-year-old Spaniard was the last captain to lead Team Europe to victory on U.S. soil, when the European side produced its greatest ever comeback at Medinah in 2012.
“It’s really hard to win away from home in the United States. In New York, we know the crowds are going to be very loud and the golf course will be set up in favour of the US team," he said. "There is not any bigger challenge for a golfer than facing a Ryder Cup away from home and we have to be mentally prepared.”
Olazábal was one of Donald’s five vice captains two years ago when Team Europe defeated the United States 16½ - 11½ at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy.
Olazábal will be a vice captain for the fifth time — having also held the role in 2008, 2010 and 2014 __ and rejoins Denmark’s Thomas Bjørn and Italian Edoardo Molinari in the backroom team.
“He is synonymous with European golf and the Ryder Cup,” Donald said. “He bleeds blue and gold like nobody else. His passion for the Ryder Cup is second to none.”
During his career, Olazábal won two Masters tournaments and played in the Ryder Cup seven times from 1987 to 2006.
He won 18 of 31 matches and formed an iconic partnership with his much-loved countryman Seve Ballesteros, who died in 2011. The prolific duo won 12 points from 15 outings.
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