{"id":20396,"date":"2012-10-27T10:11:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-27T10:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/olazabal-lands-in-chicago-with-samuel-ryder-trophy\/"},"modified":"2012-10-27T10:11:32","modified_gmt":"2012-10-27T10:11:32","slug":"olazabal-lands-in-chicago-with-samuel-ryder-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/olazabal-lands-in-chicago-with-samuel-ryder-trophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Olaz\u00e1bal lands in Chicago with Samuel Ryder trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Mari Olaz\u00e1bal, Captain of the European Ryder Cup team, has landed at the Chicago airport carrying the prized Samuel Ryder trophy in his hands. At 4 p.m. local time, he appeared at the Medinah Country Club Press Center together with Davis Love III, the U.S. Captain. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of the members of Olaz\u00e1bal’s team have been in the United States for a couple of weeks and with him, on a charter flight from Heathrow, only Nicolas<\/strong> Colsaerts, Francesco Molinari and Paul Lawrie<\/strong>, as well as <\/strong>Vice Captains Miguel \u00c1ngel Jim\u00e9nez and Darren Clarke<\/strong>, have traveled.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Mari Olaz\u00e1bal: <\/strong>“This is a very special week for golf in general, and for us in particular. After many months of preparations it is time for the competition to begin. <\/p>\n

I want to thank Davis (Love III) and his wife for their warm welcome. We landed around 14:30 (local time) and they made it very easy for us at Rockford Airport, passport control went very fast. <\/p>\n

It was not a flight like those of years ago because things have changed: many of our players compete regularly here in the United States and even have a home. They are now used to seeing each other every week, they feel comfortable with each other and that gives the Europeans a good dose of confidence, which is essential in match play. We know each other well, there is a lot of camaraderie between the two teams and now we are playing against friends, it was completely different before. They are both very good teams, at a high level, and I don’t see a clear favorite. <\/p>\n

All the players are waiting for me at the hotel. Tonight we will have a quiet dinner. <\/p>\n

I think the most important role as Captain is to know how to transmit to the players that they are going to live a unique moment, that they are part of something very special that they will never forget. This only happens every two years, and they will make friends here forever, as well as experience moments they will treasure for the rest of their lives. I must also ask you to be prepared to give the best of yourselves. <\/p>\n

I have learned something from each of the Ryder Cups in which I have participated, either as a player or as Vice Captain, and I will try to keep the team spirit among all of us.<\/p>\n

Seve was my mentor in the Ryder Cup and this week he will be present, I can’t reveal it now but you will see it during the week. I will never forget when I made my debut in 1987 in Muirfield Village (Ohio); during the meters that separated the putting green from the first tee I was crestfallen and he told me: “Jos\u00e9 Mari, you just play as you know I will take care of the rest”. And that’s how it was. Seve was a very influential figure in this competition, the Ryder Cup owes him a lot. This is the first time he is not with us physically, although he will be with us in spirit”. <\/p>\n

Davis Love III: <\/strong>“Being captain is a great honor; I am aware that this will be one of the most important weeks of my life, and I want to convey that to the players. There is nothing like the Ryder Cup, something unique and maximum pressure that can not be compared to any other tournament. Maybe it could be the equivalent of the last nine holes of a major when you are playing for the title, only here you have the same feeling from Friday on the first tee. Here it’s win or lose, it’s about helping your teammates get the victory for your country. It’s so intense… sometimes it’s even unfair to the players.”<\/p>\n

Ryder Cup Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the first edition of the Ryder Cup held in 1927 in Worcester (Massachusetts), to the last one held in 2010 in Celtic Manor (Wales), the United States has achieved 25 victories to 11 for Great Britain\/Europe, having tied on two occasions.<\/p>\n

Since 1979, when the continental players (the first were Seve Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido) became part of the team, since then called Europe, our team has won eight times to seven American victories and one draw.<\/p>\n

Since 1995, Europe has won six of the last eight editions, with four being decided by a single point lead (14 \u00bd – 13 \u00bd), including the last one in 2010.<\/p>\n

In the 21st century, Europe has won four of the five editions of the Ryder Cup since 2002; the U.S. team only won in 2008. Of all the editions that have taken place on U.S. soil since 1979, the home team has won 5, to 3 by the Europeans. <\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

United States: Captain Davis Love III<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, Steve Stricker, Bubba Watson and Tiger Woods.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vice Captains: Fred Couples, Mike Hulbert, Jeff Sluman and Scott Verplank.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Europe: Captain Jos\u00e9 Mari Olaz\u00e1bal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicolas Colsaerts, Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Peter Hanson, Martin Kaymer, Paul Lawrie, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Francesco Molinari, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose and Lee Westwood.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vice Captains: Thomas Bj\u00f6rn, Darren Clarke, Miguel \u00c1ngel Jim\u00e9nez and Paul McGinley.<\/strong><\/p>\n


<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jos\u00e9 Mari Olaz\u00e1bal, Captain of the European Ryder Cup team, has landed at the Chicago airport carrying the prized Samuel Ryder trophy in his hands. At 4 p.m. local time, he appeared at the Medinah Country Club Press Center together with Davis Love III, the U.S. Captain. Most of the members of Olaz\u00e1bal’s team have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_canonical_url":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}