Harrington hoping for automatic Ryder Cup redemption
A victory or runner-up finish for Germany’s Martin Kaymer at Whistling Straits would have propelled the 25-year-old who started his final round at nine under par, four strokes behind 54-hole leader Nick Watney, into the fourth and final qualifying spot on the World Points list for the European team at the expense of England’s Luke Donald.
Kaymer’s position in the European Points which will provide the final five automatic spots on captain Colin Montgomerie’s 12-man team, would then become irrelevant, leaving Harrington ninth on the list, the fifth leading player not otherwise qualified.
The Dubliner is committed to playing in The Barclays in New Jersey during the final qualifying week rather than the European Tour’s Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, where Montgomerie will learn his nine automatic qualifiers players on deadline day, August 29 and then name his three picks.
It meant that Harrington had resigned himself to placing his Ryder Cup future in the captain’s hands after a deeply disappointing end to his second round at Whistling Straits.
Having started his fog-delayed second round late on Friday at three over par for the tournament, the 2008 champion performed well in strong winds and fading light to reach level par after seven holes before play was suspended.
The following morning, in far more benign conditions, Harrington began with a bogey at the par-four eighth before a birdie four at the 16th left him needing to card bogey at the par-four last to make the halfway cut on the mark at one over.
Instead, the Irishman shot a double-bogey six after finding Seven Mile Creek that protects the 18th green and carded a 71 that brought an end to his participation at two over.
That left Harrington to appeal to captain Montgomerie to judge him on his body of work over the last couple of years, rather than this one tournament.
“There are Ryder Cup implications,” Harrington said. “I hope Monty is a guy who looks through things and sees stats and 16 top-10s in the last year is going to be a lot of comfort. I’m sure he needs some experience in that team and some older guys.
“I have done everything I can now and there is nothing more I can do.
“My majors have been poor this year but everything else has been good. Nobody who doesn’t qualify deserves automatically to be picked. I know at the end of the day it is the decision of the captain.
“I’ve worked hard, tried hard and if I get picked I want to be ready to play and if it doesn’t happen I will be disappointed.”
Harrington also defended his preference to play in the US rather than Gleneagles, a decision that this week received Montgomerie’s blessing.
“I have to be competitive and stick to my schedule,” the Dubliner reasoned.
“The Ryder Cup does come first and I want to play well in The Ryder Cup. And that means if I get picked I will be ready to play. That would be my attitude.
“There is no point playing the next two weeks and burning myself out.”
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