Harrington not backing up Ryder Cup words with action

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON admitted last month that he would be “devastated to miss the Ryder Cup.”

But many are wondering if his actions back up those words.

You would expect him to do everything in his power to be among the automatic top nine heading to Celtic Manor and, in his own words, “not be one of Monty’s picks”.

But as Sky Sports TV’s Ewen Murray pointedly stated during the USPGA Championship: “Harrington has played only three events in Europe this year – go figure.”

The Irishman contested the BMW PGA Championship and the British and Irish Opens. He was absent for the big money events like the French and Scottish Opens along with the lesser tournaments desperately in need of support from Tour members of his status. Even now, when he could still clinch that automatic team place by taking part in this week’s €2m Czech Open and next week’s €2.2m Johnnie Walker at Gleneagles, Harrington has decided instead to stay in the United States. He is not competing this week and will play the Barclays Championship in New York rather than come back and fight for his place at Gleneagles.

He points out that other Europeans in the same boat are pursuing a similar course and maintains he has his own good reasons for not coming home – including a commitment to a Special Olympics event. But there are many who believe that if the Ryder Cup meant as much to him as it once did, he would have found a way of satisfying everyone.

European captain Colin Montgomerie has a queue of players looking for one of his three “wild card” picks. Monty, is an admirer of Harrington since his own Ryder Cup career, the two are friendly and consequently there is the widespread view that Harrington may have been already given the nod by the skipper.

Not necessarily, however. Monty had to backtrack during the PGA Championship by declaring that those in need of a pick didn’t have to be at Gleneagles. He had little option given that he then would have been without players of the calibre of Harrington and Justin Rose and, quite possibly, Paul Casey.

But it’s the kind of humble pie that a man as proud as the Scot doesn’t like to consume.

Harrington and Rose are favourites for the picks – and Casey should he need one. But none of the trio has good reason to believe they are past the post. Harrington makes virtue of the fact that he has had 16 top ten finishes this year.

However, he has also missed the cut in three of the four major championships, finished 22nd in the US Open and hasn’t won a tournament in more than two years.

Martin Kaymer’s victory and other performances in the PGA had significant implications for the shape of the European team. The German moved up to third in the world points list behind Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy with Graeme McDowell 4th. Luke Donald has dropped out of the four qualifying places from the world list.

WITH Kaymer moving over to the world ratings, the players on the European points list improved by one with Miguel-angel Jiménez climbing to 8th despite missing the cut and Casey inched his way into the ninth qualifying spot with a share of 12th at Whistling Straits.

Francesco Molinari consolidated his position (seventh) with a share of 33rd while Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher are also looking in good shape heading into the last two weeks.

Rose (23rd in the world) can point to two victories in the States in 2010. Casey (ranked ninth in the world) reached the final of the Accenture World Match Play Championship in February and, of course, played all four rounds in the PGA. Harrington, Rose, Casey and Luke Donald all miss the Czech Open and the Johnnie Walker Championship.

In contrast, Miguel-Angel Jimenez and Ross Fisher, who still aren’t sure of their place, travel to Prosper Golf Restort, Celadna, Czech Republic as do Simon Dyson (who also shared 12th place in the US PGA) and Gonzalo Castano who haven’t given up hope of being at Celtic Manor in October.

Furthermore, Kaymer; Fisher, Robert Karlsson, the Molinari brothers, Francesco and Edoardo, Peter Hanson and Davies will also be at Gleneagles. It’s the kind of support the European Tour and indeed the Ryder Cup needs in these straitened times.

Devotion to the cause could well sway Montgomerie’s thinking, especially if any of those on the fringes were to win either of the two remaining events. It certainly makes for a fascinating press conference in the Scottish Highlands on Sunday week!