Luke Donald has opted for more experience on the sidelines at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy by naming José María Olazábal as his fourth Vice Captain for the showdown with the US at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club from September 26 – October 1.

The 57-year-old Spaniard a Ryder Cup legend, having played for Europe on seven occasions from 1987 to 2006, has been a Vice Captain on three further occasions, in 2008, 2010 and 2014, and, of course, was Captain for the most famous European comeback victory of all time at Medinah in 2012.

In his seven Ryder Cup appearances as a player, which yielded three wins and a tie in 1989 which saw Europe retain the trophy, Olazábal played 31 times, winning 18 of those matches and returning 20.5 points in total for the European cause. His partnership with the late, great Seve Ballesteros still stands head and shoulders above any other pairing in the contest’s history, the Spanish duo winning 12 points from their 15 outings together.

Outside of the Ryder Cup arena, Olazábal has notched up 33 professional wins worldwide, including 23 on the European Tour from 1986 to 2005. But he is best remembered for his two Masters triumphs at Augusta National — in 1994 and 1999 — the second being especially emotional as it came in the wake of fears that rheumatoid arthritis might mean he would never play professionally again.

Luke Donald and Jose Maria Olazabal. Ryder Cup

Olazábal joins the successful European Ryder Cup Captain of 2018, Denmark’s Thomas Bjørn, in Luke Donald’s backroom team, alongside Italian Edoardo Molinari, a winner with Team Europe in 2010, and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, a member of Olazábal’s winning Medinah team alongside Donald in 2012.

Olazábal said: “With my previous experiences in the Ryder Cup I am obviously thrilled to be back involved once again. I am really looking forward to feeling that special adrenaline flow, the intensity and the electricity that only the Ryder Cup can bring — I’m really excited to be part of it all again.

“It was a very nice surprise to be asked by Luke. I didn’t expect it but I was delighted when the call came. My role will be the same as the rest of the Vice Captains, namely to support and help Luke and the 12 players in any way we can, so they can perform at their best and be able to win that trophy back.

“I have no doubts that Luke will be a great Captain. He has played in the Ryder Cup four times and won four times and he therefore knows what is required to perform well in the match.

“He is great on detail and how important things like team spirit are. On top of all of that, he is still very much a competitive player playing at a high level. Because of that he is close to the players and he knows what they will need to perform to their best. My job as Vice-Captain will be to help him achieve that.”

Captain Donald said: “When you think of José María Olázabal, you immediately think of the Ryder Cup. He brings amazing passion and I couldn’t be more excited to have him on board.

“He was my Captain when I last played in the Ryder Cup — at Medinah in 2012 — and I thoroughly enjoyed playing for him that year. He picked me to play number one in the singles and that was hugely gratifying.

“To know he had that respect and confidence in me to go out and lead Europe in such a pressurised last day environment meant a lot and this feels, perhaps, that I am returning that favour a little bit, as I have a huge amount of confidence in him.

“Just his mere presence brings energy to any Ryder Cup environment and I saw that first hand when I asked him to be involved in the Hero Cup we staged in Abu Dhabi at the beginning of this year.

“He was such a big part of that week, being with the players and sharing stories with them of just what the Ryder Cup is all about. People notice when José María walks into a room and you could see at the Hero Cup how much everyone respected him and admired him for all he’s done in the game. I could not be more excited to have him on my team.”

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Which makes sense. But European captain Henrik Stenson’s recent choice of Edoardo Molinari as the second of his vice-captain (Thomas Bjorn was the first) is a little different from the norm. Instead of naming a trusted lieutenant then finding him a role within the team structure, Stenson has reversed that well-worn procedure. Knowing he needed a man schooled in the shot statistics many players now use to analyse their performances with every club in the bag, the former Open champion has gone for the best man available in the former US Amateur champion.

Which also makes sense. Molinari already has a burgeoning business working with more than 20 players on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Thomas Pieters, Adri Arnaus, Rasmus and Nicolai Hojgaard and Victor Perez are just a few of his clients.

“I can’t remember who it was, but a few years ago I was told by someone, not a player, that not looking at stats is like running a company and not knowing where you are making and losing money,” says Molinari, who was part of the winning European side in the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. “Or what your policy should be going forward. Or who your best clients are. I know some guys on tour who don’t keep stats. They don’t realise how much of an advantage it is to know exactly what is going on in your game. They don’t know why they play well. They don’t know their strengths or their weaknesses. They don’t know what courses suit them and which ones don’t.”

Molinari owns an engineering degree from the University of Turin. The 41-year-old first became interested in the numbers game when it became clear that his impression of his own game was actually far from the reality.

“A couple of years ago at Wentworth I felt like I hit the ball well off the tee, but was poor with my irons,” he says. “The rest of my game was pretty average. Or so I thought. But when I looked at my stats at the end of the week my coach asked me if I had noticed anything with my irons. I told him I felt like I had hit a lot of pulls to the left. Anyway, over the four rounds I missed 25 greens. And I missed 16 on the right and nine on the left. So the pulls I remembered represented only about one-third of my total misses. My mind deceived me.”

From then on Molinari used numbers to plan his on-course strategy. “I look at the ideal line on every hole given my tendencies,” he says. “I’ve been playing much better doing that. I stand on every tee knowing the perfect line. For me. So I know that club to hit. That is vital, especially when there are a lot of bunkers in play. I also know where to aim and what to hit on every approach shot. I think that helps separate myself from the rest.”

In picking Molinari, Stenson changed how Ryder Cup vice captains are normally chosen. Getty Images

Answering those sorts of questions for others on Stenson’s behalf is Molinari’s responsibility over the next 16 months or so, long before the Italian takes his place alongside the Swede at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club just outside Rome. Indeed, most of Molinari’s work will be finished before the Ryder Cup starts. And while he will be looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the European players, the Americans also will come under his microscope. All of which will then help Stenson create the course set-up that will, statistically at least, be most advantageous for the home team.

“I have already had a look at the course,” Molinari says. “We have all the shot-by-shot data from last year’s Italian Open. I’m not going to go into detail at this stage, but we already know what kind of player is best suited to the course. So we also know what subtle changes we need to make in order to favour our best players. When it is a home Ryder Cup, perhaps the biggest edge you have is the golf course.

“The wildcard selection process will be a combination of tweaking the course to suit the team and tweaking the team to suit the course,” he continues. “Even at this stage, everyone can probably figure out the core of our team. So you start with those. Then you do the same with the Americans who will almost certainly be there. Then, as we get closer to the matches, you make any adjustments that will best suit our guys. It’s all based on probabilities and outcomes.”

Indeed, but only one figure really matters of course — 14.5 — the number of points Europe will need to regain the Ryder Cup.

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By John Huggan
The reviews are in. Some of them anyway. And the verdict, as ever where golf courses are concerned, is mixed. Depending on who you talk to, the Marco Simone Golf Club just outside Rome—venue for this week’s Italian Open on the European Tour and what will be the 44th Ryder Cup in 2023—is either a disaster waiting to happen or just another in a long line of so-so Old World venues for the biennial contest between Europe and the United States.

The original design by Jim Fazio and David Mezzacane is long gone and mourned by seemingly no one, which is not really surprising. Here’s the tip-off. Although the “old” course was deemed good enough to host the 1994 Italian Open won by Eduardo Romero, the event never returned. Clearly, there were issues.

So it was that, in order to be the last course standing in a bidding process that also included Germany, Austria and Spain, Italy’s first Ryder Cup venue was told to reconstruct all 18 holes ahead of the competition. Surely the most peculiar ask for a course hoping to hold an event of this stature.

“The initial goal was always to stage the 2021 Italian Open at Marco Simone,” says Guys Kinnings, European Tour Ryder Cup Director. “So the extra year we have been granted for the Ryder Cup is a bonus really. The 2023 Italian Open will obviously be earlier in the year than in 2021 and 2022. But we did that same thing with the French Open in 2018. I can’t say any of that with certainty, but we’d like to give the player, sponsors and the Italian Federation as much exposure to the venue as we can before the Ryder Cup.”

OK, so what have we got now? What have Tom Fazio II (son of Jim) and Jeremy Slessor of European Golf Design come up with for this week and beyond, specifically for when the Americans come visit in 2023?

“No holes stood out for me,” says Englishman Oliver Wilson, who played in the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla. “Which is the problem really. The greens are immaculate, the surfaces brilliant. And yes, the undulations are nice and the green complexes are really good. But there are nine greens you can’t see when you are hitting your approach shot. There is so much elevation change. So the holes are not amazing. Not once did I think, ‘This is a great hole.’”

Other verdicts have been even less kind, to the point where more than one professional requested anonymity. Especially when the subject of the putting surface on the 219-yard par-3 seventh comes up.

“That green is horrendous,” says one player. “It looks like a cartoon where the character pulls up quickly and the ground curls up like a carpet. I watched one player chip his ball one yard onto the green and it finished over the back. Of a green that is 47 yards long.”

“The front half of the green is fine, but the back half is ridiculous unless you are hitting a wedge,” says another competitor. “[Saturday] it played 220 yards, which made it impossible to hit that part of the green.”

And one more:

“The seventh green is appalling. It looks like the shaper was on a mission to screw the architect. They can’t be friends. So many waves and slopes and humps, it’s just too much. I’m not sure what they were trying to do. And these are the people who are building our arenas. It’s shocking.”

Luke Walker
The seventh hole, a par 3, took the brunt of the criticism from pros who played the hole during this week’s Italian Open.

For all the concerns about the seventh, perhaps most troublesome is just the overall hilly site. As Wilson noted, as many as nine greens are sited well above the fairways, leaving the players struggling to see more than half of the distant flagsticks.

“I didn’t have the highest expectations and they have pretty much been confirmed,” sighs one player. “It is quite hilly, almost as much as Crans last week [the Swiss course that hosted the European Masters]. There are a few holes that are 10 to 15 yards up or down. On half of the course, we are down below hitting up to greens where we can see only the top of the pin. That’s not something I take great pleasure in.”

On the other hand, that harsh view is not universal. Former European Tour player Jay Townsend is sitting in the commentary box for Sky Sports this week.

“The greens really reward good shots,” insists the American. “Yes, there are some uphill holes. And yes, they always leave a little to be desired. But if a course is hilly, you have uphill holes. The rough is fine and consistent. The lies looked pretty much the same to me. There are a couple of immature spots on the fairways. But as young as the course is, it is in great condition. And the greens are as good as any putting surfaces I have ever seen. If you hit a good putt, it is going in. There are no imperfections out there.”

Indeed, the green surfaces have met with almost unanimous approval. But the combination of severe slopes and set-up? Not so much.

“You would not want the course to get too firm,” insists another player. “Plus, I’m not sure why we would build a course that would favor the Americans more than the Europeans. But I feel that is the case. Historically, the Americans have been longer than us. And here there are a few places where you can really cut the corners if you bomb it. Also, putting on undulating, quick greens is what the Americans are more used to. On both counts, we will likely be at a disadvantage. Yes, we can help things with the setup. But I’m not as impressed as I would like to be. Yes, it has time to mature before 2023. But it needs a manicure and a pedicure to get up to standard.”

Still, as everyone in golf knows, there is more to a Ryder Cup than just the quality of the 18 holes on display. With so little golf to actually watch—especially on the first two days when only four matches are on the course at any one time—the spectating experience is an important aspect to consider. Count Eddie Pepperell as a fan of that aspect of Marco Simone.

“This is a good match-play course and built perfectly for crowds,” contends the Englishman. “There are plenty of hills to stand on, so I think it will be a good venue. It has clearly been built with the Ryder Cup in mind. They’ve thought about the fans. There are plenty of high spots around the greens, creating amphitheatres. That’s all good. I’ve never been of the opinion that a Ryder Cup course has to be spectacular. It just has to be a great spectacle. This course has enough of that.”

Speaking of which, the closing holes at any Ryder Cup venue ideally have to be capable of producing thrills and spills, birdies and bogeys. And here again, the architects seem to have got things right. From the 14th tee onwards, the players will be faced with a pair of stiff par 4s, a potentially drivable par 4, a really tough par 3 and, to finish, a water-laden par 5 (pictured at top) where any number from 3 to 7 is in play.

“The 14th and 15th are two very good par 4s,” Pepperell continues. “You need to hit two very good shots on both to have a birdie chance. They can easily make the 16th drivable, and 17 is a brilliant par 3, maybe the best hole on the course. The green is long and thin with trouble on both sides. The 18th is a par 5 with all the ingredients to produce an exciting climax. Things will happen on those holes.”

Luke Walker
The stars of the 2018 Ryder Cup, Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari, made sure to get an early look at Marco Simone this week.

While that remains to be seen, what is not in question, is that the course clearly requires time to “bed-in.” Open only since March, there are obvious and understandable signs of immaturity. Some of the “coarse” grass to be found on the fairways provoked negative comments from a number of players as did the patchiness of the rough. There were also a few (legitimate) moans and groans from those not blessed with huge power off the tee.

“Today I was in the middle of a fairway, on a downslope, hitting a 5-iron to a green way above me,” says Matt Fitzpatrick, a 2016 Ryder Cupper who will likely be playing again for Europe later this month at Whistling Straits. “It made no sense. I’ve hit a good drive, I’m in what should be the ideal spot, and I couldn’t keep my ball on the green.”

Still, with two more competitive opportunities to come before the Ryder Cup makes its way to Italy for the first time, European Tour players should by 2023 be reasonably familiar with the foibles of this new venue. More so than the Americans anyway. The mind goes back to Paris National two years ago. There, European skipper Thomas Bjorn set up the course up to suit his team, 12 men who had played the course multiple times.

In contrast, only Justin Thomas, who not coincidentally was the most successful U.S. player in the last Ryder Cup with a 4-0-1 record, took the trouble to familiarize himself with the premises by playing in the French Open three months earlier.

“Based on what happened in 2018, the Americans need to come over and play,” Townsend says. “Only JT did that then. And he played the best of the Americans by far in the Ryder Cup. The course over-required some local knowledge, and time will tell us that this one does, too.”

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