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But, in addition to having witnessed the job that Colin Montgomerie did in Wales, the double Masters champion will also try to put into practice all he learned from the late Seve Ballesteros.
Together, of course, they were the most feared partnership in Ryder Cup history 11 wins and only two losses in 15 games and left nobody in any doubt about how much the match meant to them.
Then in 1997 at Valderrama, Olazabal played under Ballesteros and helped Europe achieve another famous victory.
He was only 31 at the time, but had been through so much. No wonder the tears flowed only a year earlier he had feared his future would be in a wheelchair because of rheumatoid polyarthritis.
Who knows what else he would have gone on to achieve but for a condition that still afflicts him, but after two more caps as a player in 1999 and 2006, being awarded the captaincy puts him back in the sporting spotlight.
Representing Europe in the Ryder Cup has given me much enjoyment, he said.
It was wonderful to be a vice-captain with Nick Faldo in 2008 and then again with Colin Montgomerie when we regained the cup. I will be committed to getting everything right in the build-up to the 2012 match.
Unlike Montgomerie, Olazabal (pictured) tackles the job on American soil and only one of the last seven contests has been won by the away team 2004 in Detroit when Bernhard Langer led Europe.
But look at the array of talent set to be at Medinah. Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer have all become world number ones since the last match and Rory McIlroy is surely destined to follow them.
Sergio Garcia, so disillusioned with the game and life in general it seemed a year ago, has had back-to-back wins since the points race started in September.
He is unbeaten with Donald and Medinah is where he ran Tiger Woods so close in the 1999 USPGA Championship aged just 19 and where he was third in the same event in 2006.
Justin Rose and Paul Casey, who both didn't make the last team, have also shown eagerness to regain their places.
Add Graeme McDowell, ready-made partner for McIlroy, and a formidable side is there.
The Americans will be under the captaincy of Davis Love this time and, having been assistant to Corey Pavin, he will have learned that little details can make a big difference like ensuring the team has wet weather gear that actually works.
What sort of side he parades remains to be seen. Keegan Bradley, left out of their Presidents Cup line-up despite winning the USPGA title in his very first major appearance, leads the table going into 2012.
A running story throughout the qualifying campaign will inevitably be on whether Woods is going to make it.
Yet even when dominating the game he did not dominate the Ryder Cup. Woods has six caps, but has only once been on a winning side. He missed the 2008 victory in Louisville through injury. His lone success was in Boston in 1999 and that was an unlikely win from four points down going into the singles.
The match was mostly remembered for an American invasion of the 17th green when Justin Leonard holed a long putt, even though the contest was not settled at that point.
The European player caught up in that was Olazabal. He thinks Medinah could be just as noisy as Brookline was that week, but he will be hoping his side can guarantee no repeat of those scenes.
Source: http://network.yardbarker.com/golf/article_external/will_olazabal_lead_europe_to_another_win/9018790
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