Jose Maria is facing what has been described as the ‘evil’ task later this week of having to telephone those who will miss out on a ‘wildcard’ pick.
Among those likely to be on the receiving end of a phone call is Padraig Harrington.
Unless Harrington can impress in next week’s Barclays Championship in New York then it will end a run of six straight European Team appearances since making his debut in 1999.
Jose Maria Olazabal faces the uncomfortable task later this week of advising those not getting a 'wildcard' pick. (Photo - Stuart Adams/www.golftourimages.com)
Harrington had been the 10th and final automatic qualifier that year before being second on the points table in 2001.
He was then top qualifier for 2004 and third on the European Points table for the K. Club in 2006 before again being top qualifier in 2008 on the back of his British Open and PGA Championship wins.
However for the 2010 Ryder Cup, Harrington had to rely on a Colin Montgomerie phone call and this despite the embarrassment of being at the time on the golf course in the States, and in the company of Paul Casey who was overlooked by Monty.
Sam Torrance, the victorious 2002 Ryder Cup captain, was in a similar situation to Monty having to make a series of phone calls to those he was not taking to The Belfry.
One of those included Olazabal, a double Masters champion, and who had played in six of the prior seven Ryder Cups
“I had to leave Olazabal out when I was captain, and I went with Garcia and also picked (Jesper) Parnevik over Ollie, as he won in America that year and Ollie was struggling with his game,” said Torrance.
“However Garcia was my highest ranked player but then that is not Ollie’s problem.
“It’s an evil decision to be faced with and it’s a tough call for any captain to have to make and particularly also having to phone-up something like Ollie to say you weren’t picking him
“I had to wait for Ollie when he came off the last green at the BMW International Open in Germany to inform him.
“It was a very hard thing for Ollie to take and even harder for me to tell him.
“But I felt I made the right decision and it was, and besides Parnevik tied his singles match with Tiger (Woods).
“So once Olllie’s contacted players like Harrington or whoever is not in the team, he will be flying and he can then concentrate fully on who’s in the side.”
And Torrance, who competed in eight straight Ryder Cups from 1981 to 1995, does not expect Olazabal to pick Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts currently just outside the top-10 qualifiers.
If selected, Colsaerts would not only be the first Belgium-born player to compete in a Ryder Cup but he would be the only rookie heading to the Windy City.
“If he picks Colsearts then he is going to have to leave out some very good players and I would not expect Jose Maria to pick Colsaerts,” added Torrance.
“He won the Volvo Match-Play beating McDowell in the final, so the boy can play but I don’t expect he will be picked.”
