Jose Maria Olazabal, at Wales Open, feels for Paul Casey, out again with injuries

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Jose Maria Olazabal, who had to skip the 1995 Ryder Cup because of foot issues, can relate to Paul Casey, a former world No. 3 who has barely played this year because of a variety of ailments.

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NEWPORT, Wales -- Jose Maria Olazabal hopes Paul Casey can return to fitness and still challenge for his Ryder Cup team.

While Olazabal plays in this week's ISPS Handa Wales Open at Celtic Manor – the scene of Europe’s famous victory over the Americans two years ago – Casey is out of action again.

The former world No. 3 missed the first two months of the season after dislocating his shoulder snowboarding and has had more problems in the last month.

He pulled out of The Players Championship after nine holes, withdrew from the Volvo World Match Play and, after missing the halfway cut in the BMW PGA Championship by nine shots last Friday, decided not to play the Memorial Tournament in Ohio.

"I feel really sorry for him. We all know how good he can play," said Olazabal. "All I am hoping is that he gets healthy again and shows form. I wish him the very best."

Olazabal knows all about battling with injury. He was given a wild card into the 1995 Ryder Cup, but withdrew because of rheumatism in his feet. It kept him out of the game for the best part of a year.

Casey, the only player ever to make a hole-in-one to win a Ryder Cup match, is down in 27th place in the points race. There are still three months to go before the top 10 win automatic selection for Chicago, but first he has to start playing again.

Olazabal opted for only two wild cards rather than the three of predecessor Colin Montgomerie, so that does not help Casey's cause, either.

The only player in a current top-10 spot playing in Wales this week is Scotland’s Paul Lawrie, while there are just four survivors of the 2010 side in the field -- brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ross Fisher, who since the match has dropped to 157th in the world.

Olazabal rates Lawrie "pretty much in" following his runner-up finish at the BMW PGA Championship, but insists he didn’t make a special request of the European Tour to partner him for the second time in a month.

The last occasion was the Spanish Open and Lawrie reckoned he played "as bad as I can" in missing the cut.

"I'm not going to judge a player on what happens in any given week," said Olazabal.

This week's field also includes 2010 captain Colin Montgomerie, who shouldn’t have any trouble sleeping on the eve of the event. On Monday, Montgomerie played 36 holes of U.S. Open qualifying -- without success -- after driving from Wentworth to his Perthshire home to get a putter and then back down to Surrey overnight.

As if that was not enough, he then went home again before driving through the night once more to Celtic Manor.

"Just me and Eddie Stobart lorries," he said of the overnight traffic. "Flying would be really sensible, but I had nothing else to do and I don't get a lot of time to myself."

Meanwhile in Wales, the Duke of Roxburghe will be looking on with great pride as his son, Ted Innes-Ker, makes his European Tour debut. Two years after watching as Europe won back the Ryder Cup, the 28-year-old Inner-Ker has described it as "a dream come true" to be playing in the same event as Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal and four players off that team.

"It's the most unbelievable opportunity for me and completely surreal," said Innes-Ker after partnering his father in the eve-of-tournament pro-am. "I'm used to playing in smaller events. I'd always wanted to turn professional, but my parents urged me to go and get a degree first."

Innes-Ker went on to work as an event assistant for the European Tour, joined WSM Sponsorship and then was given the chance to turn professional by this week's title sponsor.

He has already played in three Asian Tour events and has ambitions to try for a European Tour card -- helped by the fact that the first qualifying event is at his home course, The Roxburghe in the Scottish border country.

"My game's improved enormously in the last year, but this event is a big step up for me and just making the cut is going to be a tall order," Innes-Ker said. "Really enjoy it -- that's my main aim for the week."

He plays the first two rounds with Spaniard Carlos Del Moral and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo.

Nicolas Colsaerts handles Graeme McDowell high winds to win Volvo World Match Play

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Nicolas Colsaerts didn't win either of his first two group-stage matches, then went undefeated in his four knockout phase contests to win the trophy at the Volvo World Match Play Championship.

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Series: European Tour

CASARES, Spain -- Nicolas Colsaerts handled fierce winds to top Graeme McDowell and capture the Volvo World Match Play Championship on Sunday, boosting his chances of making Europe's Ryder Cup team.

Colsaerts won a slow final 1 up in southern Spain for his second European Tour title and earn a winner's check of $900,000.

McDowell, the 2010 U.S Open champion, bounced back after falling 1 down three times on the front nine, but was frustrated on the long closing stretch with his iron play letting him down.

Colsaerts had a two-hole lead after No. 16 and although his advantage was cut when he three-putted the next hole, he made par on the last hole to win one of the most prestigious titles on the calendar.

"I can't feel anything at the moment," he said. "To have my name next to so many major winners is a dream come true."

The victory lifted Colsaerts into 10th place on the European Ryder Cup points table -- the last automatic spot for the European team -- but perhaps more importantly demonstrated to team Captain Jose Maria Olazabal his prowess at match play ahead of the September matchup against the United States in Medinah near Chicago.

It would be Colsaert's first appearance for Europe and would cap a successful season in which he has grabbed seven top-10 finishes in 11 events -- the most of any player so far.

"It's always been a dream of mine to play in a Ryder Cup," Colsaerts said. "I know I am well placed, but there's still a long way to go."

Colsaerts is the longest hitter on tour -- overtaking Alvaro Quiros of Spain in that category this season -- and his power and distance off the tee came in handy all week on the long Finca Cortesin course, but especially on Sunday when winds blew as strong as 30 mph in the afternoon.

It forced both finalists to constantly back off from their shots, meaning their round took more than 4 1/2 hours. Organizers had earlier taken all four semifinalists off the course because of the threat of lightning, causing a suspension of an hour.

Having come from 4 down after four holes in his semifinal against Paul Lawrie to win at the second playoff hole, the 29-year-old Colsaerts -- whose grandfather played basketball and water polo for Belgium at the 1920 Olympics -- was never behind in the final.

"The conditions were brutal -- you had to grind it out," Colsaerts said. "These two games today really killed me."

After going 2 up on No. 13 and with an ideal closing stretch for a heavy hitter, Colsaerts looked in good shape but McDowell birdied the next before his opponent three-putted on the long par-4 No. 15.

However, McDowell's momentum was halted when he hooked his second shot on No. 16 left, he threw his fairway wood to the ground. He missed a 12-foot putt and was 2 down with two to play.

"`The elements played a huge part," McDowell said. "I'm disappointed that they probably came out the winner today rather than the two players.

"They really played into his hands the way he drove the ball. He's got a great wind game and he's a fantastic talent. I got beat by the better man."

Colsaerts three-putted No. 17 to reduce his lead to 1 up. But he hit a booming drive on No. 18, McDowell over hit a wedge to the green leaving Colsaerts two putts to become the first Belgian to win twice on the European Tour.

Gary Kubiak Has 'Tremendous' Expectations For Running Game

Posted Jan 29, 2014

Garrett DowningBaltimoreRavens.com Staff Writer@Ravens All Garrett Downing Articles



The new offensive coordinator has a history of establishing top running attacks.


Gary Kubiak knows how to build a running game.

During his 17 seasons as a play caller in the NFL, Kubiak’s offenses have consistently featured some of the best running games in the NFL. His offense is predicated on establishing the run, and a focus during the next few months will be rebuilding the Ravens’ rushing attack after an uncharacteristically poor 2013 season.

“I have tremendous expectations for them,” Kubiak said Monday when asked about the ground game.

“Everything is going to start when we walk in our offensive meeting rooms with being physical, regardless of which position you play. And if we do that, we’re going to throw the ball well off our play-action and those types of things.”

The Ravens finished the 2013 campaign ranked last in the NFL by averaging 3.1 yards per carry. Injuries to running backs Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce, along with an unsettled offensive line, all led to woes on the ground.



Head Coach John Harbaugh called those struggles the team’s “biggest disappointment,” and he has stressed since the end of the season that the Ravens want to get back to being a team that can wear down defenses with an effective rushing attack.

“We philosophically believe – in being a rough, tough, physical offense that can run the football,” Harbaugh said Dec. 31.

Bringing Kubiak to Baltimore could provide a perfect spark for the running game. He is known for his stretch-zone blocking schemes with the Houston Texans and from his days as a coordinator with the Denver Broncos.

Kubiak’s method of running the ball is proven, and his offenses have produced 1,000-yard rushers in 14 of his 19 seasons as a head coach or coordinator. During that time, the Broncos and Texans had success by plugging a variety of backs into the system.

Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Clinton Portis, Reuben Droughns, Steve Slaton and Arian Foster have all topped the 1,000-yard rushing mark under Kubiak. Of that group, Portis was the highest draft as the No. 51 overall selection. None of the other backs were selected before the third round.

Davis, a sixth-round pick, went on to become an NFL MVP and three-time All-Pro selection. Foster, an undrafted free agent, is a three-time All-Pro selection and averaged 1,900 yards from scrimmage from 2010-2012.

Now Kubiak will get to work with a three-time Pro Bowler in Rice, and a talented young back in Pierce. He was complimentary of them during his introductory press conference and will get to work establishing his system with them in the next few months.

“If they’ll get downhill, we’ll do fine,” Kubiak said. “[They’ve had] some great running backs here that have been very successful. We told John we think they fit what we do very well. It’s our job now to go teach our system and get them comfortable with it.”