Harrington would love a tasteof Olympic golfing glory in green
The Irishman even welcomed the idea that an Olympic title might one day supplant the current majors as golf's grandest prize of all the major of all majors.
"I'd love to play. It would be unbelievable. It is a big deal in Ireland to be an Olympian and I'd be there, that's for sure. I'd be very, very keen,"
"I know professional golfers say we have our four majors, but they weren't the four majors 70 years ago," he said.
"Maybe in 50 years' time the Olympics could be the number one major. It has to start somewhere."
Since becoming an independent nation, only five Irish athletes have ever won an Olympic gold medal, dating back to 1928 when hammer thrower Pat O'Callaghan won his first of two.
Swimmer Michelle Smith, who won three golds in Atlanta 1996, is the most recent and Harrington would relish the opportunity to join the list of exalted individuals.
"Beijing 2008 would be great, I'd put it in my schedule now. It's a big deal being an Olympic athlete, especially when you are from a small country," he said.
"They have been talking about it for a number of years now. I think golf should be in the Olympics, full stop.
"It is another issue whether it should be professional or amateur. There is a very strong amateur association that could govern it but the Olympics has maybe moved away from its ideals of amateurism to ideals of the best.
Harrington will tee off against Vijay Singh, John Daly and Seve Ballesteros in a 4 ball challenge at The Heritage Golf and Country Club in Killenard, Laois on July 19.
The Spanish legend should have a distinct advantage as he co-designed the course with Jeff Howes his first course design in Ireland and it hosts the AIB Irish Seniors Open in 2005.
Harrington will continue his unconventional route to Ryder Cup qualification this week on a course boasting a mini Mount Fuji and replica Great Wall of China as the European Tour heads into pastures new.
The revived BMW Asian Open at the Tomson Golf Club in Shanghai is the first European Tour-sanctioned event on mainland China, where the popularity of the game is growing at ferocious rate.
Along with Australia's Greg Norman and South Korea's KJ Choi, Harrington is the leading draw.
Ranked eighth in the world, he has reportedly pocketed a cool £282,000 for competing and the tournament also counts for Ryder Cup points.
It is mid-May and Harrington is yet to play a Tour event on European soil, yet he leads the qualification points list and lies fifth on the Order or Merit.
"That's the nature of the European Tour early on in the season, with the co-sanctioned events at the start of the year," Harrington said.
"There have only been four or five events in Europe, with the meat of them starting last week with the British Masters.
"It's nice to be in a good position in the Ryder Cup points order of merit. I am comfortable that I have got a good start and I just look forward to playing golf every week, no matter where it is."
Harrington opened his season with victory in Hong Kong before Christmas and last week returned from a three-week break with a fifth-place finish in Macau, an ideal tune-up for the defence of the BMW Asian Open title he won two years ago in Taiwan.
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