RYDER CUP captain Jose Maria Olazabal gave an instant reaction in Scotland last night to Pádraig Harrington shooting a 64 in America – and it should leave the Dubliner in no doubt where he stands.
The three-time Major winner is fighting to be among the candidates for a wild card on Monday, but it is how he finishes the first of the FedEx Cup play-off events that appears far more important than how he starts it.
Olazabal was reminded that two weeks ago he said Harrington needed to do something extraordinary to make the side. So what now constitutes extraordinary? “At least a win,” Olazabal replied with a smile.
He was speaking at Gleneagles, where Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts needs a top-two finish to earn himself a cup debut and is two off the lead following an opening three-under-par 69.
Colsaerts, thought to be in with a great chance of being picked, along with Ian Poulter if he fails in his bid for an automatic spot in the Johnnie Walker Championship, was delighted with his day’s work.
“It was exactly the day I wanted, being in control of what I was doing,” the 29-year-old Volvo World Matchplay champion said.
“I’m very pleased with how I handled myself.” He was also pleased watching Ryder Cup assistant captain Thomas Bjorn, who was paired with him for the first two rounds and kicked off his defence of the title with a 70.
“I can see what he’s capable of,” Bjorn said. “I don’t think it comes as a surprise – I think we all know what Nicolas can do.”
On Colsaerts’s round, Olazabal said: “It’s a solid start. He still has work to do and we will see what he does.”
He also commented on the absence from the event of Martin Kaymer, who is under threat at 10th in the points table, but opened the door to Colsaerts by taking the week off.
Should the German drop into a position where he too requires a wild card, Olazabal insists he will not hold it against him that he missed the final week of the race. “It won’t count against him. I’ve always made that clear.”
Australian Brett Rumford and little-known Norwegian Knut Borsheim set the pace at Gleneagles – and they played together as they each shot 67. They go into the second round one ahead of a group that includes Scot Paul Lawrie and Italian Francesco Molinari, the only two players in the field who already know they will be facing the Americans in Chicago next month.
Colsaerts had an early bogey, but then produced five birdies in seven holes around the turn and also sank a 20-foot putt for par during that run. He led on his own for a while, but missed a three-foot par putt at the seventh – his 15th – and could not add to his birdie tally in the last eight holes.
As for Harrington, who came home in 29 to set the early pace at the Barclays, he said: “I’ve been playing well for quite a while, but this is the best I’ve putted. I don’t want to go in there and try too desperately to beg for a pick. I’ll just leave it be what it is – I’m just going to play golf.”
The world number 61 is competing against a field containing 23 of the world’s top 25, while 33rd-ranked Colsaerts does not have any of the game’s top 25 with him at Gleneagles.
Colsaerts finished the day in a tie for eighth, with England’s Mark Foster – one of four players beaten in a play-off by Bjorn last year – Dutchman Maarten Lafeber and Dane Thorbjorn Olesen joining Lawrie and Molinari on 68.
