WGHOF Induction: 'Brilliant' Olazabal overcame obstacles

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Jose Maria Olazabal celebrates his first Masters victory in 1994.

Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower and golfers Christy O'Connor, Jose Maria Olazabal and Lanny Wadkins are being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday. PGATOUR.COM has asked several prominent golfers and golfwriters to write essays about the inductees which we are publishing in the four days leading up to the ceremony at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla.

His story is one of brilliance and perseverance. Of unbearable pain and incredible joy. Of crawling to the bathroom to take a shower or brush his teeth because it was too painful to walk. Of returning from what seemed like an abyss only to win a second Masters and take his place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Join GOLF CHANNEL host Rich Lerner on Nov. 2 at 10 p.m. ET to see the 2009 World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony presented by Shell. The coverage will also air on GOLF CHANNEL Nov. 3 at 3 a.m. ET, and Nov. 3 at 8 a.m. ET.

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Click here to check out his induction page on the World Golf Hall of Fame's official Web site.

Jose Maria Olazabal's career has been one of fabulous shots and quiet dignity. He has an exquisite short game and a bag filled with magic shots -- just like his countryman and idol Seve Ballesteros. He's as passionate, too. Just in a very different way.

Ballesteros is a swashbuckler -- a man with flair and charisma that drew people toward him. Olazabal is oh-so private -- a man who knew he was born to play golf; a perfectionist who knew that nothing was out of his reach if he'd only work at it.

His passion has always been for the shots and game itself. And he was determined to have a shot for everything; a resounding slam-dunk back in the face of anyone who sized up a shot as impossible.

Olazabal -- Chema to his friends and family -- caught some eyes back in 1983 when he won the British Amateur. But we really snapped to in 1989 when he tied for eighth at the Masters and ninth at the U.S. Open.

And when he won his first Masters in 1994? We remember Olazabal sitting alone on a bench on the Augusta National back porch reading a note Ballesteros had tucked in his locker before the final round. The legend had used the words believing, trusting, never doubting. A few hours later, Olazabal slipped on his first Green Jacket.

Not long after that, the pain began. It was in his big toe. Then his foot. Doctors couldn't find an answer or a solution. Olazabal couldn't walk across the room to change the channel on the TV. How could he ever think of playing 18 holes, let alone 72?

He spent 18 months determined to find an answer and he did. It wasn't his foot. It was a compressed disc in his back. He won in his third tournament back -- the 1997 Turespana Masters-Open De Canarnias. Two years later, he won his second Masters -- a tournament he had watched from his bed just four years earlier.

Olazabal, who was honored with the Golf Writers Association of America Ben Hogan Award for his courage and comeback, has won a combined 29 events internationally and been a brilliant Ryder Cup player with an 18-8-5 record. Although he's been slowed in recent years by a battle with rheumatism, he served as Nick Faldo's vice captain at the 2008 Ryder Cup and is the front-runner for the job in 2012.

And about that perseverance? Limited schedule, back-shoulder-leg pain and all, he's fighting to make Colin Montgomerie's 2010 Ryder Cup team as a player, not a vice-captain. He tied for sixth at this year's Verizon Heritage, tied for 14th at the CASTELLÓ MASTERS Costa Azahar earlier this month.