The singular character of José María Olazábal
By JOHN HOPKINS
SAN ROQUE, SPAIN | That February day, 11 days after his 60th birthday, José María Olazábal sat in the clubhouse at Valderrama and looked out over the back nine holes of the golf course, the site of Europe’s victory in the 1997 Ryder Cup. A gusting poniente (wind from the west) was rattling the cork trees that line the course and kicking up white horses of spray on the Mediterranean in the distance.
In his homeland, where he has lived all his life, the 1994 and 1999 Masters champion looked and felt content. Hosannas have rained down on his head throughout his career, for his golfing skills and his personal characteristics.
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“If you ask anyone on tour who’s most liked, favoured, respected they’ll say José María,” said Colin Montgomerie, a friend and rival since the day the two men met in the final of the 1984 Amateur Championship – and Olazábal, at 18 (two years younger) won. “Why? For his lack of ego considering his two majors and what he has achieved. There’s a lot of people who have achieved nothing in the game with an ego that is beyond words and you listen to them and think ‘What? Shut up!’ This guy has achieved everything in the game and yet the word ego doesn’t come into it. As a golfer, yes, brilliant in every way and as a person just a lovely, lovely guy.”
“What I can say is that for me personally I am very, very happy that I lived and played in a time when Chema [Olazábal’s nickname] played and was around,” said Thomas Bjørn, Europe’s 2018 Ryder Cup captain.
The next morning, Olazábal set out from the 10th tee at Valderrama with Álvaro Quirós, the Spanish professional, carrying his golf clubs. He was practising to regain form after a shoulder injury the previous September and in time for a senior tournament at Aloha Golf Club a few miles up the coast towards Marbella. He is all business on the practice ground, hitting 100 balls to warm up in little more than half as many minutes.
He walks briskly with a distinctive, almost splay-footed waddle and is very deliberate over the ball. He waggles his club many times and rocks from side to side as he shifts his weight. All the time he is muttering quietly. “I am talking to the ball,” Olazábal said. “I am saying to it: ‘I don’t know where you went last time. Where the hell are you going to go this time?’”