Pádraig Harrington defends European Tour’s Ryder Cup criteria

Pádraig Harrington has labelled as “silly” a suggestion by Rory McIlroy that the European Tour drop its membership requirement and make the Ryder Cup “the best 12 players from Europe versus the best 12 players from the US.”

While he did not mention the 27-year old Down man by name, the Dubliner vehemently defended the current Ryder Cup qualifying criteria which requires that players hold European Tour membership in order to be eligible for the biennial showpiece.

Quizzed about Europe’s first Ryder Cup defeat since 2008, McIlroy told the No Laying Up podcast “for me, there shouldn’t be anything to do with membership of tours” in the qualifying criteria.

McIlroy added: “To have a guy like Paul Casey not on our team when he is playing some of the best golf in the world right now, it definitely hurt us.”

Lee Westwood backed McIlroy’s call for a change in the rules regarding Ryder Cup eligibility following last month’s defeat at Hazeltine.

Only European Tour members can play on the team, a rule which meant captain Darren Clarke did not have the option of selecting world No 12 Casey, who gave up his membership to concentrate on the PGA Tour. Westwood said: “If you prove you’re world class on, say, the PGA Tour and not the European Tour, why should that have any bearing on whether you can play or not?’

Six-time Ryder Cup player Harrington, 45, begs to differ and the only change he would make to the Ryder Cup qualifying system would be to push back the final qualifying date by a fortnight so the team better reflects form.

“We shouldn’t bepanicking,” Harrington said. “We have won lots of Ryder Cups in recent years so it is not like we need to overhaul everything because we lost the last one.”

On the rule only European Tour members can play — they must play five events not including the Majors or the World Golf Championships — Harrington said: “Let’s face it — if you can’t play five events… I had to play 13 two years ago to keep my membership and I wasn’t in the world events. Five events is pretty easy. It is not putting anybody under any pressure.”

Players can even include the Olympic Games and the Ryder Cup amongst their five events and Harrington insisted the membership requirement should not be changed.

“The Ryder Cup is far too important to the European Tour for the man on the ground to be turning around and saying, ‘Why not just select the top 12 in the world rankings and be done with it.’ That would be silly, wouldn’t it?

“At the end of the day, the reason we have done well in the Ryder Cup is because of our selection criteria and how we have worked it. Just because we lost the last one and the US have changed their criteria doesn’t mean we should change ours. Ours was working just fine. I would change the date and push it back two weeks. It’s just a little early, a month before it.

“The Ryder Cup is all about the European Tour. And the Ryder Cup, to be honest, it represents the non-Europeans who are members of the European Tour. It is all about the European Tour. That is how I see it.

“It is absolutely a carrot used by the European Tour. If you want to play in the Ryder Cup and improve your career prospects and all that goes with it, you have got to be a member of the tour and play five times. It is not much to ask anybody.”

Harrington conceded ending the qualifying period a month before matches take place is not ideal and called for that date to be extended.

“I think clearly the need to look at it,” he said of the entire qualifying process. “But I think the first thing they need to do is change the qualifying date back to where it was in the nineties when it was two weeks before the tournament.

“Now it is four weeks. It is probably too far. They need to push that back two weeks. That would be a start.

“I like the system in place personally. I fully understand the importance of the Ryder Cup to the European Tour and the rank and file of the European Tour. You would never want to take away…. it’s like the golden ticket, isn’t it.

“Every rank and file player starting a Ryder Cup year thinks he can make a Ryder Cup team. You don’t want to take away that golden ticket. That’s what drives our tour.

“You’ve got to look at the ordinary guy on tour, the rank and file guy and give him an opportunity to make the team.

“I don’t think you should be taking opportunities away from the guys. The support of the grassroots guys for the Ryder Cup is very important for the players. Not just when they play on Ryder Cup teams but the support of guys who haven’t played is important for teams.

“You can’t separate the Ryder Cup from the European Tour. It has to be kept relevant to the players in Europe who are playing in Europe.”

Harrington has two events to play this season and knows he can return to the world’s top 50 and secure his Masters place by Christmas if he wins this week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City or the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.

Pointing to driving as the key to success in South Africa, he said: “I’ve played Sun City a few times. I’ve certainly been in contention there, it’s a good track. It’s nice to have played it, so I certainly won’t be playing practice rounds Monday and Tuesday down there.

“You’ve got to drive it well because it’s at altitude, you break the back of a lot of holes. It really is a driver’s golf course. If you get your drives out there into a good position it shortens up the holes a lot. It is a big golf course, even though you’re playing at altitude, you have a lot of approach shots from 200 yards, it’s a long enough golf course.”