Ryder Cup at Valderrama 1997
The 28th of September 1997 was a milestone in Valderrama history as Seve Ballesteros led Europe to a 14½ - 13½ victory in his home country when golf's greatest team event was staged in Continental Europe for the first time. That week, the southern Spanish venue hit the headlines worldwide by hosting the world's third biggest sports event after the Olympics and the World Cup.
The 32nd Ryder Cup was very special for José María Olazábal. "I have many great memories of that week at Valderrama. To begin with, the beautiful inauguration ceremony, and then the dowpour that fell in the early hours of Friday. According to local statistics it hadn't rained that week for more than forty years, but that deluge made up for those and for the next forty!
An interview with José María Olazábal in 2017