European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald added another familiar support piece to his back room on Wednesday, naming Jose Maria Olazabal as his third vice captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Olazabal returns to the role having also been one of Donald’s five vice captains in 2023 when Team Europe defeated the United States 16½ – 11½ at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy.
“I am delighted to welcome Jose Maria back to the vice captain role. He is synonymous with European golf and the Ryder Cup and everything it represents. So to have him back as part of my backroom team is incredibly positive for us,” Donald said in a press release. “He bleeds blue and gold like nobody else. His passion for the Ryder Cup is second to none. He is just an inspiration to so many players, which made such a difference in Rome.”
Team Europe is seeking to win on U.S. soil for the first time since 2012, which happens to be when the 59-year-old Spaniard captained Team Europe to victory, overseeing the most famous European comeback victory of all time at Medinah in 2012.
“I was part of that team as a player and got to witness his never-give-up attitude and the inspiration he drew from Seve that week,” Donald said. “There might be some tough times in New York when we all need that experience, that passion and that mentality.”
This year’s Ryder Cup will be the fifth time Olazabal has been a vice captain after previously performing the role in 2008, 2010 and ‘14, as well as in Rome two years ago. He rejoins Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn and Italian Edoardo Molinari in Donald’s backroom team.
As a player, Olazabal represented Europe in the Ryder Cup on seven occasions from 1987 to 2006, forming the most iconic partnership in the history of the biennial contest with his compatriot Seve Ballesteros. Olazabal said that when Donald approached him about the vice captaincy, he took time to evaluate whether he wanted to be part of another Ryder Cup before eventually responding in the affirmative.
“The Ryder Cup is very close to my heart. I have wonderful memories about this event so I said yes,” Olazabal said. “It’s really hard to win away from home in the United States. In New York, we know the crowds are going to be very loud and the golf course will be set up in favour of the US team – we’ll have to handle that, too. I think there is not any bigger challenge for a golfer than facing a Ryder Cup away from home and we have to be mentally prepared for that.”
Individually, Olazabal has won 33 professional tournaments worldwide in a glittering career, including 23 victories on the European Tour from 1986 to 2005. He is a two-time winner of the Masters Tournament, having claimed the Green Jacket at Augusta National in 1994 and 1999, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009.
The Ryder Cup will be played at Bethpage Black in New York from September 26-28.
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