USGolfProTips

The Europe captain has made sure that in the runup to Medinah there will be no repeat of the 2010 controversy over Paul Casey

José María Olazábal doesn’t want or need anyone’s pity but, still, it is hard not to feel a little sorry for the Spaniard, who this week “celebrates” the first anniversary of his appointment as Europe’s 2012 Ryder Cup captain.

There are eight months to go before he will get his chance to put two decades of experience and knowledge to use when his team take on the US at Medinah Country Club near Chicago in September. In the meantime, Olazábal has to content himself with the lot of Ryder Cup captains at this stage in the cycle, which is to say not much at all. Talk about no power and no responsibility.

Fortunately, the Spaniard is temperamentally suited to the demands of keeping a low profile, in stark contrast to his predecessor, Colin Montgomerie. Monty, God bless him, never knowingly walked past a microphone without waxing lyrical about the “demands” and “tough choices” he faced in the runup to the match at Celtic Manor in 2010.

There has been a singular lack of such grandstanding over the past 12 months from Olazábal, although he has not been entirely inactive.

On the day he was appointed last January he made it clear he wanted a reduction in the number of captain’s picks, from the three demanded by Montgomerie to two, to limit the captain’s discretion (or ego trip, as some may say) and put the onus on the players. “The more picks you get the less value you give to the players who finish in the top 10,” Olazábal said at the time.

Sensible stuff. More importantly, it was exactly the kind of stuff players like to hear. The broader the scope of the Ryder Cup captain’s discretion, the greater the possibility of resentment and recrimination of the kind that happened in 2010 when Montgomerie left Paul Casey out of his team, despite the Englishman being ranked eighth in the world.

Casey was also at the centre of the other selection controversy in 2010, being one of four potential candidates for a captain’s pick who were still out on the course in the US when Montgomerie announced his team at Gleneagles.

Casey found out the bad news on the sixth fairway in New Jersey, when Caroline Harrington, the wife of Padraig, his playing partner for the day, gave her husband the thumbs up.

“I figured that was it. Caroline’s a great friend – she would have said something to me if I had been picked, so at that point I kind of knew that I hadn’t,” Casey said afterwards.

Casey, a member of the European Tour players’ committee, has been an outspoken critic of the selection process in 2010, calling for it to be changed. And he has found an ally in Olazábal, who said in Abu Dhabi this week that the announcement of his Europe side will be delayed by a day to allow any potential team members playing in the US to complete their week’s work.

“Looking at what happened the last time round it was not a comfortable situation for anyone,” Olazábal said with commendable understatement. “It would be unfair for anyone who is playing in the States and who might be on the verge of winning to announce the two captain’s picks before the guys even tee off.”

A victory for Casey. A victory for the players. A victory for common sense, you could say. Olazábal has not had much to do so far as a Ryder Cup captain but he has not put a foot wrong when he has. It augurs well for when the real business starts in Chicago.