Pádraig not worried about the ‘other guys’

RYDER CUP nerves are coming to the fore in the build-up to The Belfry showdown on September 27-29.

There is now no papering over the fact that considerable tension has built up between the top two Americans, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, while Pádraig Harrington who, along with Sergio Garcia, is the keyman in the European side, is unwilling to talk about the poor form of so many of his team-mates.

Woods and Mickelson have qualified for the US team for the World Cup in December, but they won’t be there as a unit. One or other may go, certainly not both. Nor will they be partners at any stage of the Ryder Cup according to American insiders. Sensing blood, a journalist asked US captain Curtis Strange during the PGA if he would pair the two in either foursomes or fourball. Strange replied: “I don’t know.” Team member Davis Love III was asked on Sunday if he envisaged a Woods Mickelson partnership at The Belfry. “I doubt it,” he snapped.