Harrington points way to Ryder Cup success
The issue has risen because more top European players are spending time on the US Tour, making it hard for them to schedule enough events on the continent.
Harrington is at St Leot-Rot near Heidelberg to defend his Deutsche Bank Tournament Players Championship of Europe, having spent a couple of weeks in Asia where he tied for fifth in the Macau Open and a disappointing 60th in his defence of the Asian Open in China.
Positive as ever though, he denied he was affected by all the travel and claimed: "I like the jet lag I get when I fly east to west. It means I'm tired at night and wake up in the morning quite refreshed and ready to go earlier in the day."
However, he was less forthcoming on the Ryder Cup issue. Because of his far flung travels, he wasn't up to speed on the contrasting views expressed last week by Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke about whether the likes of Lee Donald, Mathias Gronberg, Carl Pettersson and Jesper Parnevik should be obliged to play 11 Ryder Cup counting tournaments on the European circuit.
"Obviously, if somebody qualifies in five, six events, they deserve to be in the team. They have worked harder to get on the team by doing that. On the other hand, if somebody wants a pick, they should be a little more committed to the tour. I do think if you play your way into the team, regardless of the number of events you took to do it, you deserve to be on the team. If your sole goal was to play in the Ryder Cup, you would play 11 events.
"I want the best team around me, yes. But the pick is a little more of a judgment call. Maybe you should be a member of the tour to receive the pick. I can see the pros and cons of both sides. It's a tough decision and I'm glad I'm not making it."
Harrington's schedule is coming under ever increasing scrutiny, with many observers unable to understand how he can afford to pass up next week's €3.75 million Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth and the equally valuable French and Scottish Opens later in the campaign.
Harrington put up a robust defence of his stance: "I've always done my own thing where my schedule is concerned and would never follow the pack," he maintained. "I was defending in Asia and that's why I went. This is only my second year not playing in the PGA and I will do so at a date in the future because it's a tournament I'd like to win.
"But I need to bring a different game to Wentworth. My past performances have been very average, to say the least. It's pointless going there at the moment. I hit the ball very high which is disastrous around Wentworth; it's an incredibly swirling wind and I struggle on the greens because I don't hit my putts firmly enough.
"I have gone there and beaten myself up for four days trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I last played in 2002 when I missed the cut with four over and Anders Hansen won with 19 under. I stayed around to practice and couldn't believe that score. If I was starting out on my career, I would have packed my clubs in the car and said I wasn't good enough. However, I do see the PGA as a challenge and that's why I'll be back."
Harrington also made the point that his confidence, which is on a high at present in spite of serious concerns about his putting, could take a hammering in such circumstances. He stressed that he has "never followed the pack" and that he will always search for a better way.
"I watch what everybody else does and see what I can learn from them, but I'd always be quick to change things and try new ideas. I would do it in my own way and make my own mistakes with that."
The European TPC has been sponsored by Deutsche Bank-SAP since 1995 and has moved between Gut Kaden, Hamburg and St Leon-Rot in the intervening years. This is its fourth visit to St Leon where Tiger Woods came out on top in 1999, '01 and '02. They moved to Gut Kaden, Hamburg last year when Harrington defeated Thomas Bjorn in a play-off with Woods back in 29th place.
Now they've returned to St Leon with the Irishman accepting that "it's quite different from the course I won on last year. It's long and you've got to hit it straight off the tee. Last year's would not be anywhere as tight or as long as this.
"It was a big event for me to win at the time. But that was last year and we have to focus on what we are doing this week."
The root cause of Harrington's problems in China was on the greens and as his putting coach Harold Swash is not here this week, he again faces problems in this area. He spent hours on the practice green yesterday and is obviously hoping for a fast start in a tournament boasting one of the strongest fields of the season.
There's no Woods this time but Ernie Els makes his fifth appearance of the season on the European circuit and heads an entry that boasts the top ten in the European order of merit. Other luminaries like Retief Goosen and Jose-Maria Olazabal, neither of whom is seen regularly on this side of the Atlantic these days, along with Nick Price and reigning Open champion Ben Curtis are also in action.
It's a crucial tournament for Colin Montgomerie, currently 50th in the world ranking. He cannot afford to slip even one spot if he is to automatically join those exempted into the British Open in July and with a divorce pending, it won't be easy for the one-time king of Europe to improve or even retain his current status.
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