‘Age card’ swings it for Harrington

PADRAIG HARRINGTON said last night that the “age card” was key to his inclusion as a Ryder Cup wild card.

As Paul Casey was reduced to tears by his failure to make the European team, Harrington said: “It was going to be a difficult situation. As I’ve said all along, if you don’t qualify for the team you don’t have an automatic right to be on the team.

“On my own side, maybe it was obviously experience as the team is a young team. I won’t normally play the age card, but this time it obviously suits me.