JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL has compared Ian Poulter to Seve Ballesteros after the Englishman’s finish at the Ryder Cup last night.
Poulter birdied the last five holes of in the afternoon fourballs on Saturday, combining with Rory McIlroy to claim a one-up victory over Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson to keep Europe within four points of the USA.
Olazabal did not hold back in his praise of Poulter, who has not lost a match at this year’s Ryder Cup and is renowned for his match-play prowess.
“I think the Ryder Cup should build a statue for him, you know? You know, that’s Poulter,” Olazabal said. ”That’s why we say that he has such a special character for this event.
“He thrives at this event, he loves to be on the spotlight, he loves to be in that kind of situations.”
Asked if Poulter could be compared to any former European players, Olazabal hinted the 36-year-old Englishman reminds him of Ballesteros, who played in eight Ryder Cups and won four times, including once as a non-playing captain.
“There is one (Poulter reminds me of) that is not here with us anymore but I’m pretty sure that when he looks down on us, he must have been proud of what he saw today,” Olazabal said.
The USA lead 10-6 at the Medinah Country Club with Sunday’s 12 singles matches left to play. But Olazabal believes Europe’s victories in the final two matches on Saturday give his team a chance of the overall win.
“It was huge,” the European captain said. ”Those last two matches were massive. That keeps us just, a chance. It’s been done before in the past and well, tomorrow is going to be a big day.”
Olazabal’s counterpart Davis Love III denied he was disappointed after USA gave up a 10-4 lead, effectively keeping the contest alive.
“These guys (Europe) birdied, I don’t know, the last four or five holes, and our guys all played real well today,” Love III said. ”We lipped out a bunch of putts and we hung in there but we haven’t lost a segment yet, we’re just going to try tomorrow and try to keep that string going.”
