Gallacher foresees draw despite Olazabal's 'Seve message'

Wednesday 19 September 2012

DECIDING which four of his 12 players to leave out of the opening morning's foursomes session will be one of the tough parts of the job for Jose Maria Olazabal at the Medinah Country Club next week.

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It is a dilemma Bernard Gallacher can sympathise with. As Europe's captain in 1991, 1993 and 1995, he knows fine well the difficulty of that particular task. So it is no surprise that the Scot believes it is now time for a change in the format of golf's famous biennial encounter with the USA, one which would end a situation where some of the world's best players can only watch the action for the first four sessions before swinging a club for the first time in the final day singles.

"It is ridiculous in this day and age that you have eight of the best players in the world not playing," said Gallacher. "You feel almost as if the Ryder Cup is almost short changing television, the spectators, the press, because you want to see everyone playing. I made it a rule that when we had our team talks at the start of the week, I always said to the players that no matter what happens, you will all play before the singles."It is likely that Olazabal will follow that lead at Medinah next week. Leading a particularly strong European team, the Spaniard will find it hard to leave anyone out of the first two days of a clash which Gallacher feels is too close to call. "I think if ever a match looked like a draw, this is it," he said. "I think the Europeans are an exceptionally strong team. I would say it's the strongest team that I have ever seen go to America, but I think there will be a home advantage with the huge crowds, and they will probably be very partisan crowds. "It is in the British and Irish DNA to want to beat America. There was a feeling we would lose something in 1979 when we became a European side but there is a passion and it is in the Europeans' DNA now that they want to be part of this team."This is the first Ryder Cup since Seve Ballesteros' death. Olazabal, who forged a formidable pairing in with his compatriot, has already stated that the memories of his old friend will inspire him next week. "Olazabal will carry Seve's torch into this one," said Gallacher. "This is the first Ryder Cup since we became a European team in 1979 that Seve will not play some sort of part. The next best thing is to have Olazabal as the captain. He will deliver the Seve message."Gallacher is delighted to see fellow Scot Paul Lawrie back in the side 13 years after he made his Ryder Cup debut at Brookline. There has even been talk of the Aberdonian as a potential captain for the 2014 match, but Gallacher is adamant that Lawrie should aim to play rather than lead at Gleneagles."If I was giving him advice, there is plenty of time to be captain," said Gallacher. "Take it from me, you don't want to be captain because it heralds the end of your career. You want to play and play as long as you can. If Scotland wants to see Paul Lawrie, they want to see him playing, they don't want to see him in a buggy."

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Gallacher foresees draw despite Olazabal's 'Seve message'

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