Olazabal looking to follow in the footsteps of his old mentor and win Ballesteros’s greatest prize

Jose Maria Olazabal’s 12 men go into the heart of raucous, blue collar Chicago with one mission – to retain the famous trophy and rubber-stamp their status as the dominant team in world golf.

The 39th renewal of a sporting event that gets grander with each passing contest is the first to be held since the death of Seve Ballesteros, one of the great pioneers of the Ryder Cup.

It was his surge to prominence in the late 1970s that transformed a moribund, predictable match between the United States and a Great Britain & Ireland team into what it is today – one of the greatest spectacles on the sporting calendar, contested between two of golf’s powerhouse pugilists.

Ballesteros, who lost his battle against brain cancer on May 7, 2011, was the Ryder Cup’s most fervent player, and led the European resurgence through the 1980s and 90s.

His victory as captain in his home country of Spain in 1997 continued a compelling narrative that the man with whom he formed such a formidable playing partnership in the Ryder Cup – Olazabal – will look to continue this week at Medinah.

Ballesteros and Olazabal won 11 of 15 matches together. They were beaten only twice. Olazabal has been a pillar of European golf for 20 years, but his most humbling hour will unfold without his great mentor by his side.

When Ballesteros died, the world of golf lost one of its most colourful and effervescent characters. Olazabal lost so much more.

“Seve will be present somehow. I will have to find a way,” said Europe’s 46-year-old captain.

Olazabal will no doubt bring a more measured approach to captaincy than his great compatriot, who was so hands-on at Valderrama 15 years ago that he invoked the wrath of his players, most notably Colin Montgomerie and Jesper Parnevik.

Olazabal, twice a Masters champion, has a quiet manner about him, but like all Spaniards, the Ryder Cup stirs his passion.

Four years ago it was Olazabal’s voice that was loudest and most inspirational in the team room as Nick Faldo oversaw the continent’s only defeat this century.

A perfectionist, Olazabal will have left no stone unturned in preparing to fulfil his quest to join the likes of Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Montgomerie in playing for and captaining a winning European team.

In the red corner is an American golfer of equivalent stature. Davis Love III is a former major winner and a mainstay of the American Ryder Cup story for the last two decades.

Ironically, his baptism as a player in 1993 came in a trio of head-to-head clashes with Olazabal and Ballesteros. Love lost twice but he and Tom Kite at least have the distinction of being two of only four men to have bested the Spanish matadors.

The task for Love this week, is to win back a Cup the United States have only laid claim to once this century.

Olazabal’s mission is to regain the bragging rights won so thrillingly at Celtic Manor two years ago, when the Ryder Cup’s place in the hearts of the 24 golfers who fought for it, was hammered home.

Golfers plough a lone furrow for money and individual accolades for 95 per cent of their careers. But in a Ryder Cup there is so much more at stake.

Just ask Graeme McDowell, a man who achieved the ultimate ambition of any professional golfer when he won a maiden major title at the US Open in June, 2010.

Yet three months later, that pressure he felt in the final round at Pebble Beach paled into insignificance when an entire continent was willing him to land the winning blow at Celtic Manor.

“I was out there trying to win it for me, my 11 team-mates, for Colin (Montgomerie), for Europe, for all those fans out there,” he said just hours after prevailing against Hunter Mahan to win back the Cup for Montgomerie’s men.

The Ryder Cup of 2010 was one of those sporting occasions that will live long in the memory.

Spread over four days because of torrential rain in the Usk Valley, Celtic Manor became the venue for the greatest Ryder Cup in living memory.

Tensions simmered, nerves frayed, galleries sank in the flooded walkways, but spirits were never dampened as the level of play between the two teams not just matched expectations, but surpassed them.

Corey Pavin’s US team led, then Europe roared back on ‘Super Sunday’, before, in the eye of the red storm that promised to engulf the leaderboard and spoil the party on ‘People’s Monday’, Monty’s men held firm to spark jubilant scenes in the clubhouse, throughout the course and across the continent.

No sporting occasion unites nations quite like a Ryder Cup and chants of ‘Ole, Ole, Ole’ filled the late afternoon sky over Newport.

Sport is at its best when the prize at stake leaves its protagonists at opposite ends of the emotional spectrum.

For those tears of joy for Europe, read tears of despair for Mahan and the Americans.

“I think people appreciate the showing of the emotions and showing that they care,” said Mahan, who will not even get the chance to seek revenge at Medinah after being overlooked for a wild card by Love.

“We were trying to play for our country and we were trying to play for each other and we were trying to play for Corey (Pavin). There’s no better honour than that.”

As of Friday morning, the responsibility of Olazabal and Love will have been passed on to their players. On to the shoulders of Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk and Bubba Watson.

The eyes of the world will focus on Medinah Country Club as 24 golfers, including nine of the world’s top 10, do battle for the biggest prize in team golf.

So strap yourself in for the rollercoaster ride of the Ryder Cup.