A FAMOUS partnership, which was denied to Europe for last September's Ryder Cup matches at Oak Hill, is back in business. The so called Spanish Armada of Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal will join forces for an exhibition four ball against Colin Montgomerie and Sam Torrance in Las Palmas on Monday, March 4th.
In normal circumstances, there would be nothing remarkable about this sort of happening. It will be recalled that the Spanish duo had a four and three win over the US partnership of Tom Watson and Payne Stewart for the Royal Green Cup at Royal Pedrena three years ago. The Canaries match takes on a rather special significance, however, in view of recent concerns about their physical well being.
It will mark the first competitive appearance of Ballesteros since the Ryder Cup in which he was desperately at odds with his game, losing his singles match by four and three to Tom Lehman. But he was fortunate in that he, at least, had the opportunity of sharing in Europe's triumph, unlike his compatriot who had to declare himself unavailable.
Having undergone surgery on his right foot last January, Olazabal then had to contend with rheumatoid arthritis in the same limb. Well meaning admirers sent him all sorts of remedies, but he eventually put his faith in the drug, Methotroxate, which was prescribed by a specialist in the Mayo Clinic in the US last September.
The pain was like having needles in the joints of my toes," said the 1994 US Masters champion. Then there was the side effect of having a worse pain in my leg, along with a sore knee. In August and September, I could barely finish my rounds. I felt like an Olympic marathon runner falling across the line."
Olazabal received tremendous encouragement from European Ryder Cup skipper Bernard Gallacher and the other team members at that stage. "But I had to find my way and my words to tell them that I couldn't be in the team " he said. "Sometimes it crossed my mind that I wouldn't play again, but that was only as a dark summer cloud. The last thing you lose is hope."
Though he has taken the cautious approach of aiming a comeback to tournament play for the Dubai Desert Classic on March 14th, he may return to action before then. In fact, he and Ballesteros are expected to play in the Moroccan Open which starts on March 7th, three days after their exhibition match in Las Palmas.
Ballesteros is currently in fine form, according to his manager, Roddy Carr. Seve's back is fine and he's as fit as he has been at any stage in recent years," said the Dubliner. He is really looking forward to a return to action and playing well again."
The European Tour remains in South Africa this week, where the Alfred Dunhill PGA Championship starts at the Houghton club in Johannesburg on Thursday. Nine Irishmen will be in action Ronan Rafferty, David Feherty, Eamonn Darcy, Des Smyth, Philip Walton, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, John McHenry and Raymond Burns.
McHenry and Smyth are the players in form, having shared 10th place behind Mark McNulty in the Dimension Data Pro Am at Sun City last weekend, for prize money of £6,942 each. Newcomers to the tour, Francis Howley and David Higgins, will be looking for places through the pre qualifying competition today. Either way, both will be in action in the Kenya Open next week.
The indications at this stage are that Howley and Higgins will also be in the field for the Catalan Open, starting on February 29th, when Walton will be defending the title. This event will also mark the first European appearance of the season for another Tour School graduate, Padraig Harrington.
Action on the USPGA Tour last weekend was at Torrey Pines California where Davis Love Ill shot a final round of 64 to win the Buick Invitational by two strokes from Phil Mickelson, who was seeking his third successive tournament win. It was Love's 10th victory on the US Tour and it lifted him six places to 15th in the Sony World Rankings.
Britain's Nick Faldo also had the distinction of a closing 64, but it was sufficient only to claim a share of eighth place. Still, the $36,000 which Faldo earned allowed him to break a complete US dominance of the top 10 in the money list.
With earnings of $124,000, he is in ninth place behind runaway leader Mickelson. Indicative of the huge rewards currently available to American players is the fact that after only the fifth counting event of the new season the Pebble Beach Pro Am was washed out Mickelson has accumulated $603,650. That total would have been sufficient for a place in the top 25 on the final money list for 1994.
Faldo is more concerned, however, about getting his game into shape for the defence of the Doral Ryder Open on the Blue Monster course, starting on February 29th. He will be looking for a strong showing there and on the remainder of the Florida Swing, as preparation for a worthwhile challenge in the US Masters. He has failed to achieve a top 10 finish at that event since he won it for a second successive year in 1990.
Another former Masters winner, Sandy Lyle, is mourning the death of his father, Alex, who was 75. Lyle Snr was club professional at Hawkstone Park in north Shropshire for 31 years until his retirement 10 years ago.
