Jose Maria Olazabal has now joined his late, great friend Seve Ballesteros as a double winning Ryder Cup and Seve Trophy captain.

Ballesteros created and won the very first Seve Trophy at Sunningdale in 2000 and three years after captaining Europe’s Ryder Cup team to success at Valerrama.

Now a year after leading the ‘Miracle at Medinah’, Olazabal has steered his Europe Seve Trophy team to a two point triumph at St. Nom-la-Breteche.

“I am very pleased and very proud as the boys were determined to win, and sometimes that determination helps,” said Olazabal.

The victorious European Team. (Photo – David Lloyd/www.golffile.ie)

“A few guys played extraordinarily well throughout the week but then the difference between all the players was very slim and it came down to the little details.

“So when you have players at this level you get drama, you get intensity.

“And that’s what we saw, we saw great matches.

“We saw the Seve Trophy decided by the last match of the last day.

“And it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Watching the action unfold over the four days was Europe’s current Ryder Cup captain, Paul McGinley.

And with the 2014 Ryder Cup now less than a year ago Olazabal is even more confident the captaincy reins are in good hands.

“I’m sure Paul will have taken a lot of notes this week regarding certain players, not just their performances but their attitude on the course,” said the Spaniard.

“That can be very important when you have to face a big opponent like we do iin the US at the Ryder Cup.”