Olazabal wildcard request granted

Ryder Cup captain’s picks reduced at Ollie’s behest

European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal will have only two wildcard picks when it comes to choosing his squad for the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah.

The European Tour’s Tournament Committee made the decision to reduce the number of captain’s choices by one at the request of the new skipper.

This move comes only months after Celtic Manor captain Colin Montgomerie called for more freedom to pick players going into the event on form, bringing the selection process more into line with that of Team USA. Corey Pavin was able to select four wildcards to make the journey to Wales last October.

Olazabal said: “I am very pleased that the Tournament Committee has agreed to my request.

“The only reason that I asked for a change in the criteria is because I believe that it will give me the strongest team possible to defend the Ryder Cup.

“I looked over the last few qualification processes, going back to 2004, and was satisfied that my proposal would give me the strongest team on paper.

“We are going to have a very strong team but I just felt that this would give the team the best chance to keep the Ryder Cup and that is what we all want.

“At the end of the day, it is the players who are the stars and it is the players who hit the shots and win the points to win the Ryder Cup.

“I would like to thank the committee for their support and I hope that this is the first step to us retaining the Ryder Cup in 2012.”

The qualification process, which will begin at the Omega European Masters in September this year and end at the conclusion of the Johnnie Walker Championship in 2012, will now see the leading five players from the European points list joined by the leading five players from the world points list as automatic qualifiers.

This represents a reversal from the previous situation where world points, comprised of accumulated world ranking points, counted before European ones, earned by members competing in European Tour events.

There is still no indication if Olazabal will choose his wildcards immediately following the Johnnie Walker as his predecessor Montgomerie was forced to.

The Scot waited until after victory at Celtic Manor to hit out at the selection process, which meant he had to leave out the then world No.7 Paul Casey, after watching Edoardo Molinari win the Gleneagles event.

“I shouldn’t have had to leave out top ten players in the world,” he said.

“That was the worst day of my professional career, having to do that to peers, to friends, to colleagues.”

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered