European captain Paul McGinley announced on Wednesday that Padraig Harrington, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Jose Maria Olazabal will join his team of vice-captains for the Ryder Cup later this month.
The three men have a wealth of Ryder Cup experience and join Des Smyth and Sam Torrance on McGinley's back-room team for the showdown with the United States at Gleneagles on September 26-28.
Olazabal played in seven Ryder Cups and captained Europe in the 2012 'Miracle of Medinah', while Harrington has made six appearances and Jimenez -- vice-captain to Seve Ballesteros in 1997 -- four.
"I know it's been common in the past to have three or four vice-captains, but I've gone for five because I feel an extra person is justified due to the additional workload which comes from being the home team, in addition to how well I saw such a system working when we ended up having five vice-captains under Colin Montgomerie at Celtic Manor in 2010," said McGinley.
McGinley said Harrington was "my oldest friend on Tour" and described Jimenez as "someone that the spectators love as well as being very popular with all the players".
On Olazabal, he said: "Jose Maria's passion for the Ryder Cup is recognised the world over. It was obvious in his legendary partnership with Seve and was also so very apparent two years ago at Medinah, so I'm delighted he has accepted my invitation to be involved again, once more maintaining that important continuity."
Scotland's Paul Lawrie, who had been tipped to be selected as one of McGinley's vice-captains, wrote on Twitter: "Extremely disappointed not to be involved at Ryder cup but all the best to all of the European team #goeurope."
Source: AFP
