MEDINAH, Ill. — It has been 13 years since Brookline, when the United States staged its historic comeback to win the Ryder Cup at the expense of a stunned European team. But Jose Maria Olazabal still has vivid memories of that day.
He remembers all of the red flags that went up early on the scoreboard as the Americans began to whittle away at a 10-6 deficit when singles play began. He also remembers the 17th green where Justin Leonard rolled in a 45-foot putt to essentially beat him in their match. He also remembers the emotion in the European locker room after the U.S. had claimed its improbable victory.
“More than half the players were crying all together,” Olazabal said late yesterday, “me included.”
After all of these years of trying to forget one of the low points of his brilliant career and a dark day in European Ryder Cup history, Olazabal will be pointing to Brookline, Mass., for inspiration today as Europe tries to duplicate what Ben Crenshaw’s U.S. team did at The Country Club all those years ago.
On the eve of that historic comeback, Crenshaw famously predicted, “I’m a big believer in fate. I have a good feeling about this.” Asked about Europe’s chances today at Medinah Country Club, Olazabal echoed a similar theme.
“I believe that it’s not over,” he said. “That’s what I learned from Seve and that’s what I’m going to try to pass to the players. It’s not over until it’s over.”
Olazabal won’t be channeling Crenshaw or Yogi Berra today. He will be channeling Ballesteros, his former Ryder Cup partner who died last year of brain cancer. The Europeans have carried a silhouette of Ballesteros on their golf bags throughout these matches. Today, they will dress in his colors, navy blue and white, with Seve’s silhouette on their shirts. “We have a tough task ahead,” Olazabal said. “But it’s not over.”
If Ballesteros has any influence, he knows his fellow Spaniard deserves a measure of revenge today, revenge for Brookline. More than any other player, Olazabal felt the brunt of the American comeback that day. With the Ryder Cup on the line, he bogeyed four straight holes allowing Justin Leonard to even the match on the 15th hole after rolling in a 35-foot putt. They shared pars at the 16th. Both reached the par-4 17th in two with Olazabal in better position, facing a 22-footer for birdie. Leonard was 45-feet away and looking to secure at least a par. But the golf gods tracked his memorable putt into the Cup, setting off a wild premature celebration.
American players and their wives stormed the green to hug Leonard, trampling across Olazabal’s putting line with their high heels and spikes. After order was restored Olazabal missed his putt. Leonard won the hole and the Americans won the Cup.
Now Olazabal, a two-time Masters winner, is forced to use that nightmare as motivation for his European team that knows it won’t have a home crowd to support his players the way the U.S. did 13 years ago.
“It’s going to be difficult,” Olazabal said. “We’ve seen how supportive the crowds have been this week and it’s going to be the same [today]. But at the end of the day, they’re not hitting the shots and what we have to do is hit great shots, make a few putts and get the momentum on our side.”
To no surprise, Olazabal will send his best players out first to try to put some blue on the board and heat on the Americans. It will be Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose against Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson.
It’s a long shot trying to rally from four points down to beat a deep American team on its home soil. But maybe this will be the ultimate payback and Olazabal will get to party like it’s 1999.
george.willis@nypost.com