In a shock revelation European Ryder Cup captain, Jose Maria Olazabal indicated he would seriously consider picking Tom Lewis as a 2012 European Team ‘wildcard’ choice should he fall just outside of automatically qualifying for Medinah.
 
Lewis, 20  shot to third place on the Ryder Cup points table after last Sunday’s thrilling Portugal Master win.
 

Tom Lewis could get a Medinah 'wildcard' pick if he continues his Portugal Masters winning form into 2012. (Photo - www.golfbytourmiss.com)

Olazabal missed the Vilamoura halfway cut but having seen the Englishman on the Victoria Club range he’s greatly impressed with the effort of Lewis in succeding in only his third pro event.
 
“To win only your third tournament as a professional was very impressive,” said Olazabal. on Tuesday in Spain and ahead of the Castellon Masters.

“He did very well at The Open but to win in Portugal is going to be a huge boost in confidence for him.
 
“I haven’t seen him play but from watching him hit balls last week on the range he looked very good.
 
“The way the way he closed out the tournament with four birdies in a row there near the end says a lot about his game.
 
“But with young players like Tom and Matteo (Manassero) we need to wait to see how things develop.
 
“I don’t think Tom is too young for the Ryder Cup but we still have 10 months to go.
 
“So if this early qualifying form continues and he is getting closer and closer, and just manages to be on the edge of Ryder Cup selection then I would have to seriously consider him for a wildcard pick.”

But while Lewis hopes his star continues to rise this week’s Castellon Masters defending champion, Matteo Manassero has reacted to recent poor form by sacking his caddy.
 
Manassero will have his coach on the bag for the next two weeks while the position of full time caddy will be hotly contested given the 18-year old Itallian stallion has won more than Euro 1.5m since turning pro and he’s still living at home with mum and dad.

Manassero’s two wins were with the Coleraine bagman including the Malaysian Open earlier this year.

“It was very, very hard for me as Ryan has been with me from the beginning and we had two wins together and some great experiences together,” said Manassero.

“So this will be my first week without Ryan but sometimes you need to change as while I had a good summer of golf, the scores weren’t coming.

“The feelings I was taking onto the course were not going away so I will my coach, Alberto (Binaghi) on the bag for the next two weeks until I find someone else,”

However McGuigan has not been idle and will start working with rookie Portstewart pro, Paul Cutler at next week’s Andalcia Masters.