Jose Maria Olazabal to appoint four vice-captains

Jose Maria Olazabal has confirmed that, like predecessor Colin Montgomerie, he will be selecting four vice-captains for his European team at the Ryder Cup in Chicago in September.

“I am surprised to learn that there have been media reports suggesting that we will have only two vice-captains,” the Spaniard said.

“I don’t know where they could have come from or whether there has been some misunderstanding, but I want to make it clear that I will be selecting four vice-captains. This is what Davis (American captain Davis Love) and I agreed in Chicago last September.

“I have said many times that as a vice-captain myself in 2008 and 2010 I learned that you need a lot of help that week. You need eyes, extra eyes to follow the players in the practice rounds to gather as much information as you can about how everyone is playing.

“Then it is important to have each match watched because you have to hand in your pairings for the afternoon matches when the players are still out on the course. That means it is absolutely essential to have all the information you can get before you put those pairings down on paper to be handed in. I would say it is borderline to do the Ryder Cup with less than four vice-captains. Never at any time have I considered reducing that number to three, let alone two.”

Olazabal was the only official assistant to Nick Faldo four years ago, although he had other helpers, while he became the fifth vice-captain for Montgomerie during the 2010 match because bad weather meant there were six games in one session.