GULLANE – Padraig Harrington isn’t ruling out the idea of taking part in another Ryder Cup, even at the age of 51, depending on how he fares against the world’s best players over his fortnight.
Those hopes were bolstered at Friday’s Scottish Open after a 4-under-66 win at the Renaissance Club, which left him two shots off the early pace of Tyrrell Hatton and Tom Kim.
Harrington said Europe captain Luke Donald called him after he won at the PGA Tour Champions two weeks ago to say he was watching. But the Irishman doesn’t think his performance on the Over-50 circuit should be taken into account.
His benchmark is the Scottish Open and the British Open next week at the Royal Liverpool.
“I have these two events. I’ll see at the end,” Harrington said. “I’ll talk to Luke and see where I stand. If necessary, I will change my schedule. I’m supposed to play some Champions Tour events in the middle of summer. But I will change and come back and do European tours when I have a real chance.”
Harrington captained Whistling Straits two years ago, where a young American team fulfilling their potential gave an aging European side their worst-ever Ryder Cup defeat.
Raymond Floyd in 1993 and Jay Haas in 2004 are the only players over 50 to compete in a Ryder Cup and it’s a long shot that Harrington is even considered. But he hasn’t ruled it out.
Harrington finished fourth on the European tour earlier in the year in Abu Dhabi. He’s made it to all five PGA Tour events he’s competed in, most recently with a 27th-place tie at the US Open at the Los Angeles Country Club.
“The way I play in Scotland and the way I play the Open will define everything,” he said. “It’s putting a lot of pressure on me to come in here because I know if I don’t perform in those two weeks, it’s over.”
“If I don’t have a good two weeks, I’m not going back (to Europe). I will play the Champions Tour,” he said. “Average two weeks, I don’t know where this is taking me. Of course, if I have two good weeks, that says something.”
Europe has lost experience as so many players have gone to LIV Golf – Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey – and some of them have relinquished their European Tour membership and are therefore ineligible to play.
Harrington not only sees this as an opportunity for himself. He likes the way top Europeans play and how young players are showing up.
“I don’t think they make an effort to need me on the team,” he said.
But he says he’s physically capable of going head to head with the best – his last win outside of the PGA Tour Champions was the Portugal Masters in 2016 – as long as his head is in the right position. That’s why he skipped a major at Firestone Country Club in Oho this week.
“I still think I’m a serious player. I see some good things,” he said. “Honestly, if I never hit the ball better than I have in the last two days, I would be happy. I would not change anything in the last two days. It just means you get the right break here or there, pot the right putt and I’ll be there every week.”
At the moment it’s all about reaching Sunday in Scotland. Harrington always said his goal was to get into the back nine with a chance on Sunday and see where that takes him.
“So let’s see what the next 27 holes bring,” he said.
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