EUROPEAN CAPTAIN JOSE Maria Olazabal has said he will not play in next year’s Ryder Cup, despite US captain Davis Love III saying he hopes to play in the event.

Olazabal told reporters: “I want to make this clear. Even though chances are very slim of me making the team, if that would be the case, I can assure you that I won’t be playing in it.”

Olazabal said he felt he would be unable to combine the two roles, given the responsibility that serving as captain entails.

“I think the Ryder Cup has become the third biggest sporting event in the world. There are many things that you have to do during that week, and I don’t think that you can do both things at the same time.”

Meanwhile, his counterpart, Love, said:

“I would like nothing better than to be in the mix. But the number one goal is to win the cup back, and you know, if I was one of the best five players on our tour this coming year, then yeah, I’d like to play.”

Olazabal has played in seven Ryder Cups since he featured when Europe won in the US for the first time in 1987, helping his team triumph in four of the competitions in which he has competed.

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