A relaxed Pádraig Harrington does not believe a fourth major title would alter his golfing legacy, but concedes a third British Open victory next week might lead to a hasty change of heart.

There’s still a chance he could be persuaded to change his mind but as the USA celebrated its first Ryder Cup win for eight years, Pádraig Harrington insisted he was not the man to skipper a new generation of European stars in the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris.

When Pádraig Harrington was preparing to chase his third Open victory in a row at Turnberry and his fourth major in the space of two years, he reflected on what it meant to be great, or special, writes Brian Keogh.