PGA Tour qualifying school hasn’t been kind to the few Illinois golfers who have tried it over the years, but that wasn’t the case this week.

Eric Meierdierks, the 2010 Illinois Open champion from Wilmette, and Scott Langley, the 2010 NCAA champion for the University of Illinois, both earned their PGA Tour cards during the six-round marathon that concluded at PGA West in LaQuinta, Calif., on Monday.

Meierdierks, a New Trier High School graduate who didn’t play golf in college at Michigan State, followed his Illinois Open win of two years ago at Hawthorn Woods with a playoff loss to Chicago’s Max Scodro in this year’s championship at The Glen Club, in Glenview. Meierdierks, who turned pro in 2009, has spent most of his time since then on the Gateway Tour in Arizona but he did return for his state’s premier championship.

Since turning pro he also had a Gateway win to his credit, but he also had to deal with personal issues in getting through Q-School. His father passed away six days before the first stage of the competition.

“That was the hardest tournament I ever played,’’ Meierdierks offered after the battle for his card ended successfully. “It made (the final stage) a walk in the park.’’

He also had good vibes as he toured the TPC Stadium Course and Nicklaus Tournament Course, the 18-holers at PGA West used for the qualifying rounds. Meierdierks’ family had vacationed off the No. 7 fairway of the Nicklaus’ course, and his glimpses of the lodging there triggered good memories for him in the heat of the competition.

This year’s Q-School – the last one to send players directly to the PGA circuit – had 1,558 registrants. There was a pre-qualifier and then three stages of eliminations before the top 25 and ties were awarded PGA playing privileges. Mierdierks tied for 14th, and Langley tied for 17th. Low man over the six tense rounds was Dong-hwan Lee, at 25—under-par. Mierdierks was at 20-under and Langley was another stroke back.

Also making it was Kris Blanks, the winner of the last Chicago area Nationwide (now Web.com Tour) tournament – the Bank of America Open at The Glen Club in 2008. Blanks earned a return trip to the PGA circuit. A shoulder injury had led to his failure to reach money-winning standards necessary to retain membership this year.

Another plus for the Illini

Langley’s arrival on the PGA Tour was just the latest in major accomplishments for University of Illinois alums. Five will play on the PGA Tour in 2013, with Langley joining Steve Stricker, D.A. Points, Luke Guthrie and Joe Affrunti. Affrunti is still recovering from major shoulder surgery last spring.

Like Langley, Guthrie will be a PGA Tour rookie. He qualified for the big tour by finishing second on the Web.com Tour money list – and he needed only 10 tournaments to do it. Guthrie didn’t turn pro until the Illinois season was over in June. Interestingly, Meierdierks’ Illinois Open win came in a duel with Guthrie.

Langley’s advancement was no surprise. In addition to winning his NCAA title the left-handed golfer was a factor in the last two U.S. Opens. He tied for 16th in 2011 and tied for 19th this year.

Illinois’ run of success hasn’t been without a cost. Coach Mike Small lost his assistant coach when Zach Guthrie, Luke’s brother, resigned that post. He’ll be Luke’s caddie on the PGA circuit in 2013.

They didn’t make it

Those who didn’t crack the top 25 (actually 26 earned turn cards) at PGA West included Camilo Villegas, Heath Slocum Billy Mayfair, Nick O’Hern, Skip Kendall, former Northwestern star Chris Wilson, ex-British Open winner Todd Hamilton and Patrick Cantlay, who dazzled the PGA Tour when he shot a 60 as an amateur in the 2011 Travelers Championship.

Next year’s Q-School will only offer spots on the Web.com Tour. That circuit will play a bigger role in determining who advances to the big circuit. This year the top 25 on that tour’s money list was promoted to the PGA Tour for 2013.

Anybody who follows the golf scene in Illinois should tune in to what happens the next few days in the final stage of the PGA Tour’s Qualifying School at PGA West in California.

Wilmette’s Eric Mierdierks, winner of the 2010 Illinois Open at Hawthorn Woods and runnerup (in a playoff) to Chicago’s Max Scodro at The Glen Club in 2012, hit the halfway point in the six-round marathon in a tie for ninth place. The top 25 and ties after the six rounds earn berths on the PGA Tour for 2013.

Mierdierks, 27, has never played in a PGA Tour event. A New Trier High School graduate, he developed his skills playing on Arizona’s Gateway Tour the past few years, and his game appears to be peaking at the right time.

The PGA Tour Qualifying School will be radically transformed in 2013. This is the last year its top players will earn berths for the following year on the PGA circuit, and Mierdierks wants to take advantage of what might be a last-chance opportunity. Q-School will offer only spots on the Web.com Tour in 2013. That means it’ll be even harder to get on golf’s premier circuit, and it’s plenty difficult already.

Mierdierks was one of 1,558 players submitting entries to the 2012 Q-School, which is being conducted in three stages. This final stage, still in progress, began with 172 players battling for the coveted PGA Tour spots. Through the first three rounds Mierdierks is at 203, and five strokes behind leader Meen Whee Kim. Mierdierks shot 66-67 in rounds 2 and 3 on Thursday and Friday over the Nicklaus Tournament Course and TPC Stadium Course to climb the leaderboard.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday rounds remain before playing privileges are determined. Most of the finalists will get privileges of some sort on the Web.com Tour in 2013 but, of course, the PGA spots are more coveted.

The last of the very few Chicago area players to earn a PGA Tour card was Crystal Lake’s Joe Affrunti. He earned his in 2010 by finishing in the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour money list. Affrunti, like Mierdierks, was an Illinois Open champion (2004) and also won the Chicago District Amateur in both 2000 and 2001. His PGA Tour hopes, however, have been hampered by a shoulder injury that required surgery.

Mierdierks won his Illinois Open title with a one-shot win over Luke Guthrie, the University of Illinois star who made it to the PGA Tour in a hurry. Making good use of some sponsor exemptions, he was a smash hit on both the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour in the second half of the 2012 season.

KemperSports update

KemperSports, the Northbrook-based golf management firm, continues to build a broad impact world-wide. Its latest project is the Vista Mar Golf & Beach Resort in Panama, and the soon-to-open 36-hole Streamsong Resort in Polk County, FL., has already received rave reviews in various golf publications.

Scott Wilson has been named director of golf at Streamsong. He had been at another KemperSports location, Vellano Country Club in California.

On the more local front, Nate Mather is leaving his job as general manager of Glen Flora Country Club in Waukegan to become GM of The Club at Fairvue Plantation in Gallatin, Tenn. – another KemperSports facility.

For the record

Hopefully this is the end of media reports suggesting Oak Brook’s Butler National might return as a big-tournament venue. Some club members would like the exposure Butler received as site of the Western Open from 1974-1990, but the vast majority want it to remain all-male and therefore not acceptable for U.S. Golf Assn. and PGA events. A vote was taken on the issue recently and my sources tell me only one or two members wanted to accept female members. Until that sentiment changes Butler as a tournament site is a non-issue.

Just my opinion

This joint announcement by the U.S. Golf Assn. and Royal & Ancient Golf Club banning the anchoring putting stroke isn’t that big a deal. Of course, anchoring a club against your body should be banned. It represents too big a departure from golf’s traditions. Royal & Ancient likely felt stronger about this issue than the USGA did, and the rule proposal was too long in coming.

And don’t forget, long putters (the belly variety and the longer “broom-handle’’) are still legal. That’s fine by me, though I suspect there’ll be some controversies over just what is anchoring and what isn’t once the rule is put into effect in 2016. How close to your body does the club have to be to be considered “anchoring?’’ Players might be willing to test the rule on that.

As far as I’m concerned, though, golf has a bigger issue to solve – slow play. That would be at the top of my list.

Calendar material

I’ve found golf just fine in this late-fall, early-winter period in Chicago and only wish more courses were still open. The Nos. 1 and 3 layouts at Cog Hill, in Lemont, are among the few that will remain open year-around, and some fun events are coming up on those.

The Frosty’s 3-Club Open will be held over No. 1 on Dec. 9 and the Eskimo Open will be played on both courses on Jan. 6.

Also notable is the Jan. 1 deadline established by the Western Golf Assn. for the sale of its holiday ticket package. The package includes two any-day tournament tickets, lanyards and ticket holders to next September’s BMW Championship at Conway Farms for a great price — $65. Only 2,500 such packages will be available.

There wasn’t much movement in Chicago’s club professional ranks the past few years, but that’s not the case now. Already five well-established head pros have announced plans to move on.

The move creating the most ripple effect was Mike Scully’s departure from Medinah immediate after the Ryder Cup. He is now in charge at Desert Mountain, a Scottsdale, Ariz., resort that has five courses.

Scully was also the vice president of the Illinois PGA, so his leaving the area after nearly 10 years created some adjustment in the section’s rotation of officers. Chris Gumbach became the IPGA’s 25th president at the Fall Annual Meeting. Gumbach, a member of the board of directors from 2007-12, succeeds Casey Brozek, who will continue on the board as honorary president.

Gumbach, in his 18th year at River Forest Country Club, has been that club’s head professional the past seven seasons.

Scully’s position as vice president was taken over by Jim Opp, the head professional at Bonnie Dundee who has been on the IPGA board for eight years and was most recently chairman of the Education Committee. Mark Labiak, in his 15th season at Ruth Lake, is the new secretary and Hans Larson (Westmoreland), Jim Miller (Bloomington) and Mike Picciano (Bull Valley) have taken on three-year terms on the board of directors.

Other pros departing their jobs are Ron Romack, at Exmoor; Carmen Molinaro, at Buffalo Grove and Arboretum, Jim Arendt at Naperville and Michael Knights at Midlothian. Molinaro and Arendt announced their retirements.

Watson honored at WGA’s Green Coat Gala

Tom Watson (left) is welcomed into the Western Golf Association’s Caddie Hall of Fame by WGA executive director John Kaczkowski at the WGA’s Green Coat Gala at Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel. (Chuck Cherney Photo).

Northwestern lands big-time recruits

Northwestern coaches Pat Goss and Emily Fletcher have each signed high profile recruits to letters of intent for 2013.

Goss picked up Matt Fitzpatrick of Sheffield, England, the 2012 British Boys Amateur champion. Goss calls him “the most significant player we’ve signed since Luke Donald’ and predicts Fitzgerald “will make an immediate impact on our program.’’

Fletcher added Kacie Komoto to her women’s team. Komoto, from Punahoe High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, is the reigning Antigua National High School champion. She was the Hawaii state champion in 2011.

CDGA revamps schedule, adds Super Seniors

The Chicago District Golf Assn. will had the first CDGA Super Seniors tourney to its schedule for 2013. The flighted one-day event for players 65 and over will be held Aug. 5 at Royal Hawk, in St. Charles.

Meanwhile, the CDGA’s premier event – the 83rd Illinois State Amateur – will get a major date change. It’ll be held July 16-18 at Aldeen, in Rockford, instead of taking its long-held spot on the calendar in the second week of August. The change will make the State Am a lead-in to the Illinois Open and Western Amateur and avoid a conflict with the U.S. Amateur, which received a date alteration from the U.S. Golf Assn.

Another significant change on the CDGA slate involves the 21st Illinois Mid-Amateur at Flossmoor. Usually held in May, the tourney will be conducted Aug. 27-28 in 2013.

Here and there

Jim Richerson, who heads Kohler Company’s golf operations, is the new Region 6 director for the PGA of America. He succeeds Butler National’s Bruce Patterson as the focal point for PGA activities in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

The Bolingbrook Sports Dome (formerly the Ditka Dome) now has its indoor golf operation in full swing. The facility was renovated by new owner Jim McWethy, owner of the Mistwood course in Romeoville, during the summer.

Two of Wisconsin’s top courses — Meadow Valleys course at Blackwolf Run and the Irish course at Whistling Straits – will offer reduced rates until their closing on Nov. 25.

LedgeStone, one of Missouri’s best public facilities in Branson, will hold a toy drive through Dec. 22. Players will get a free round (with a $22 cart fee) if they donate a toy during play Monday-Thursday.

Did you know?

The George S. May Insurance building, somewhat of a Chicago golf landmark, is now more. Located at Touhy and Washington in Park Ridge, it was recently taken down to make room for a Whole Foods store. May was a pioneer tournament promoter who put on big-money, high-profile tournaments at Tam O’Shanter in the 1940s and 1950s. Tam, long since reduced to nine holes, is located in Niles and is about two miles from where the May headquarters was located.

Illinois PGA will have a different challenge if the section decides to keep its first major tourney of 2013 at Kemper Lakes.

The club, which hosted the 1989 PGA Championship, the 1992 U.S. Women’s Amateur and several Champions Tour stops before it became a private venue in 2009, has begun a renovation project.

Taking small steps at first, the club approved Libertyville architect Rick Jacobson’s plans to radically change the bunkering. The original course had 199,000 square feet of bunkers. When Jacobson’s work is done it’ll have 112,000. But the number of bunkers will probably increase from the present 63.

Kemper has a 10-year master plan, and Jacobson started with the green-side bunkers on the back nine. They’re smaller and deeper now, and that trend will continue when he takes on the front nine next fall. A fall round at the Long Grove layout revealed some eye-catching new looks, particularly at Nos.13, 15 and 16. Only temporary greens were in play – with the exception of the tight par-4 12th, which remained unchanged — after Genesis Golf construction company began work on Oct. 1.

In its public days Kemper hosted 24 consecutive Illinois PGA Championships. Since going private the club has cut back on outside tournament play, but it does host the IPGA Match Play Championship in April. If the tourney returns in 2013 its players will face nines with radically different sets of bunkers. Not only will the size and depth of the bunkers be different, but so will the sand. The white variety, so well-received at Knollwood during this season’s U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, will be used in Kemper’s new bunkers.

Having such a lack consistency from one nine to the other is not ideal, but the IPGA might decide that keeping continuity at one of its favorite tournament sites overrides that.

A great fall for the Rosinias

In September Michael Rosinia won the boys 15-17 age competition in the Youth Skills Challenge, a Ryder Cup preliminary that drew over 3,000 entrants and concluded at Medinah the week before the U.S. and European pros went at it in their memorable team competition.

Two months later the IPGA announced that Billy Rosinia, long-time head professional at Flagg Creek in Countryside and Michael’s father, was its Senior Player-of-the-Year. He’ll pick up his prize at Medinah, too, when the IPGA hosts its awards ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 15.

Rosinia and Ivanhoe’s Jim Sobb have dominated the IPGA senior events and one or the other has been player-of-the-year in each of the last six years. Rosinia edged Sobb this time, finishing in the top 10 of all six tournaments he entered with one victory and two runner-up finishes on his scorecard.

St. Charles assistant Curtis Malm had earlier clinched a rare sweep of the IPGA Player-of-the-Year and Assistant Player-of-the-Year honors. Malm was the third man to do it, and the first since Glen Oak’s Matt Slowinski in 2009.

Streelman sticks with Wilson

Equipment changes have done in many a touring pro over the years, and it’ll be interesting to see how successful world No. 1 Rory McIlroy is after making a switch in 2013.

As for Chicago PGA Tour player Kevin Streelman, he’s not taking such a risk. Streelman is staying with Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods. Streelman, from Winfield, signed with Wilson in 2010 and just signed an agreement to continue playing Wilson Staff FG Tour V2 irons. He’ll also carry a Wilson bag and wear a cap supporting the company.

Streelman had three top-10 finishes in 2013, including a tie for eighth at the John Deere Classic.

Jemsek Golf remains at Pine Meadow

There was plenty of doubt for most of the summer, but Jemsek Golf will continue to operate Pine Meadow in Mundelein.

The Jemsek family, owners of Cog Hill, began a lease agreement with the University of St. Mary of the Lake and the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1985. The next year, after architects Joe Lee and Rocky Roquemore worked their magic on the land, Pine Meadow was named the Best New Public Course in the U.S. by Golf Magazine. It’s been widely recognized as one of Chicago’s best layouts ever since.

Negotiations on an extension of the lease were lengthy and complicated but they were eventually successful, though terms were not announced.

I may have felt that a 125-pound 14-year old would have to be teeing it up in the Masters before there was a need for me to write a golf column for primarily Midwest readers in the cold weather months.

Oops, now there is such a rare golfer– or at least there will be in another five months. An eighth-grader from China, Guan Tianlang, won last week’s Asian-Pacific Championship for amateurs in Bangkok, Thailand. That merited a Masters invitation for next April, as far Augusta National Golf Club’s members were concerned.

So be it, and his participation will spice up the first major championship of 2013. Plenty of golf news will be made before that, however – even in the winter months in the Midwest. There haven’t been many places to get the word out on such developments, though, so I’m going to do my part.

My Big Three teammate, Rory Spears, is the man to provide the bits and pieces on a nearly daily basis in his Golfers on Golf blog. I’ll be providing something different.

“It Ziehms to Me’’ will be exploring some different avenues of golf and delivering the news with a unique, and hopefully entertaining, spin. There’ll be no regular publication schedule, but I’ll write as frequently as news developments require it. We hope you enjoy “It Ziehms to Me.’’

So, here we go.

THE RECENT RYDER CUP may have seemed a downer after the collapse of the U.S. team in the Sunday matches, but – while being on site at Medinah every day – I found an uplifting story behind the scenes — the reunion of the Sweeney brothers.

Frank and Mary Sweeney, their parents, moved to a residence on Sunset Terrace – about 600 yards from the Medinah clubhouse – in 1962 and raised six children there. Their four boys – Frank, Phil, Pat and Brendan – were all Medinah caddies, and the Ryder Cup marked the first time they were all together since 2007. Their father passed away in March and their mother lives in Venice, FL.

“We had a blast growing up around the course,’’ said Brendan Sweeney. “We also parked cars and worked in the bag room. If it wasn’t for Medinah and the experiences we had there in our formative years we would not be where we are today. Golf is a great sport, and we were taught by the best.’’

All four had lengthy stints as caddies, went on to college and moved on to different careers.

Frank, 56, works as a blackjack dealer at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. He was a Medinah caddie from 1967-79 and worked at the 1975 U.S. Open as well as two Western Opens.

Phil, 55, lives in McHenry and is a mortgage banker for Harris Bank. He was a caddie from 1968-82 and worked two Western Opens.

Pat, 49, lives in Chicago where he is vice president of Global Video Chicago. Not only did he caddie at Medinah (1975-88, plus two Western Opens), he earned an Evans Scholarship doing it. Medinah is even more special to Pat. He was married at the club in 1994.

And then there’s Brendan, 45. He was a caddie from 1978-91, worked one Western Open and never left golf. While he lives in Orlando, FL., he works as director of golf media and player development for Indiana’s French Lick Resort – a facility that has four courses.

ON THE TEACHING FRONT there were two notable developments involving some of the game’s best.

Another honor has come to Pat Goss, the head coach at Northwestern and long-time swing guru for recent world No. 1 Luke Donald – and this is a big one. Goss, in his 17th season at NU, was named the winner of the prestigious Labron Harris Sr. Award, which goes to the college, high school or PGA professional who “represents the finest qualities the game has to offer.’’

And then from the St. Louis area comes the announcement of a new instruction video that was a joint effort by Jay Delsing, a long-time PGA Tour player, and Maria Palozola, who was director of golf at the Michael Jordan Golf Center a few years back. The video is called “Putting Perfection: 100 yards and in Wins!’’

Palozola taught at other Chicago facilities but may be better known for her tournament play at Mistwood. As Maria Long she captured the 2002 Illinois Women’s Open and proved she still had game four years later when she finished third in the state’s premier women’s competition.

THE WESTERN GOLF ASSN. honors Tom Watson on Friday in its annual Green Coat Gala, a long sold-out event at Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel. That’s just the start of a much busier than usual winter for the WGA.

For one thing, there’s the detail work involved in moving next September’s BMW Championship to a new location. It shifts from long-time Chicago area base Cog Hill to Conway Farms – a Lake Forest private facility that has hosted tons of big amateur events but never a PGA Tour stop.

Then, the WGA is also taking its Western Amateur out of Chicago for a year. After three Chicago stagings it’ll be held at The Alotian Club in Arkansas in 2013.

And then there’s the newest WGA venture – the Hotel Fitness Championship , which will lead off the new Web.com Tour’s four-tournament playoff series beginning next Aug. 26. It’ll be held at Sycamore Hills, in Ft. Wayne, Ind., and Duke Butler IV will be the tournament director.

This event will get big exposure next summer, as it will bring together the top 75 on the Web.com Tour money list and those ranking from 126 to 200 on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup points list.

FROM HERE AND THERE:

This year’s John Deere Classic reported a record $6.79 million charity distribution off its 2012 PGA Tour stop at TPC Deere Run. That’s a $1.5 million increase over 2011, and 493 Quad Cities charities are the beneficiaries.

Steve Skinner and Josh Lesnik, chief executive officer and president respectively of KemperSports, were ranked 13th on Golf Inc. Magazine’s Most Powerful People in Golf. It’s the 12th straight year that KemperSports has been represented on the list, and the Northbrook-based organization is now the sixth largest golf management company. Among the more than a dozen additions to its portfolio this year is Stone Creek, home course of the University of Illinois golf teams.

James Lepp, who started his collegiate career at Illinois, continues to do big things. Lepp, who eventually transferred to Washington, won an NCAA title in 2005 and won on the Canadian PGA Tour in 2007. He took a break from golf in 2008 to start Kikkor golf shoe company but is back in it as a player, participating in The Golf Channel’s Big Break series.

AND A FINAL THOUGHT: An avid viewer of The Golf Channel, I’m generally less-than-impressed with the settings of foreign tournaments. The crowds don’t look as big as what I’m used to seeing in the U.S., and the courses don’t look as good, either.

A major exception came in watching the last World Golf Championship event of 2012, the HSBC Championship that was won by Ian Poulter at Mission Hills in China. It was played on the Olazabal Course (designed by the most recent European Ryder Cup captain). A beautiful layout for TV purposes with some intriguing elevation changes, it’s one of 12 courses at Mission Hills. That makes it the largest golf club in the world and provides more proof of how global the sport has become.

The first big thing that Jose Maria Olazabal, the European Ryder Cup captain, did for team was get his players some special golf bags. All 12 of them arrived at the first tee this week at Medinah with bags emblazoned with the iconic silhouette depicting the late Seve Ballesteros’ British Open title in 1984.

That silhouette became Ballesteros’ business logo, and he had it tattooed on his left forearm. He described the moment he rolled in that last putt at Scotland’s St. Andrews course as “the happiest moment of my whole sporting life.’’

Ballesteros passed away on May 7, 2011, following a battle with cancer. This Ryder Cup will be Europe’s first without the charismatic Spaniard and no one will miss him more than Olazabal. They formed the most successful partnership in Ryder Cup history, going 11-2-2 in matches they played together.

Though Olazabal won two Masters titles, his career world-wide is best defined by the things he did with Ballesteros at his side. It’s the competitive spirit that they had together that Olazabal hopes to create as captain at this 39th Ryder Cup, and the golf bag tribute to Ballesteros underscores that.

“He was a great figure, not just for myself but for the whole European squad every year that he played,’’ said Olazabal. “We are going to miss him a lot. He was a special man.’’

Olazabal, also from Spain, grew up in a picturesque farmhouse 100 yards from the clubhouse at the Real Golf Club de San Sebastian, where his mother and father both worked.

He hit his first shot at age 2, and his skills progressed steadily from there. Olazabal made his first Ryder Cup team in 1987, when the matches were played at Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village course in Ohio. The electric atmosphere and huge crowds there left Olazabal in awe, but – fortunately for him – Ballesteros was there.

“He made it clear to (European captain) Tony Jacklin that he wanted to play with me,’’ recalled Olazabal. “I will never forget that little walk from the putting green to the first tee. I was shaking like a leaf, so I kept my head down. He looked at me and said, `Jose Maria, you play your game, and I’ll take care of the rest.’ And he did.’’

Europe won that ’87 Ryder Cup on American soil, a first in the series and a victory that went a long way in popularizing the event after the U.S. had dominated for six ho hum decades.

Olazabal, Europe’s vice captain in 2008 and 2010, inherits a European squad that has won four of the last five Ryder Cups and six of the last eight. His team this week is loaded with veterans, Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts being its only Ryder Cup rookie.

The Ryder Cup has changed a bit since Olazabal and Ballesteros played together. Olazabal flew to Chicago on Monday with only three of his players with him. The visiting teams used to arrive on the same flight.

“Of the rest of the guys, five were playing last week (in Tour Championship in Atlanta) and the rest have a house or a place here in the States, so it was very logical for them to stay here and just make the trip from their homes,’’ said Olazabal.

Like American captain Davis Love III, Olazabal tended to plenty of off-course administrative details over the last two years to get his team ready for this week. Like Love, he played a limited schedule but shot 65 in his last round before Ryder Cup obligations became overwhelming.

While Love made four captain’s picks Olazabal had to make only two – England’s Ian Poulter and Colsaerts. The determination of pairings will be an ongoing project, just as it will be for Love.

“This is a new Ryder Cup. We are playing here against a very strong team,’’ said Olazabal. “We are playing away. The crowds are going to be rooting for the home team really strong, and we have to be prepared for that. Both teams are pretty much even, and it’s going to be a close match.’’

So, who should win?

“I don’t see any favorites,’’ said Olazabal. “It will be decided, obviously, on the golf course.’’