Pádraig Harrington looking to management style of Bernhard Langer for Ryder Cup inspiration
Pádraig Harrington pictured with his captain's pick after the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
As you may expect, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain likes the balance of his team he will fly to Wisconsin with this weekend ahead of Friday’s 43rd Matches against the USA.
Pádraig Harrington had waited three long years to finalise the dozen men who will represent him, the European Tour and the continent in the biennial event. The year’s delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic may have complicated the process but in naming Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, and Ian Poulter as his captain’s picks to augment a team he hopes will be spearheaded by world number one Jon Rahm, Harrington is confident that what Europe lacks in combined world ranking points compared to their rivals, they will more than compensate for with team spirit, their blend of youth and experience, and a healthy chip on their collective shoulder.
Whether it is Rahm being overlooked this past week for the PGA Tour’s player of the year award in favour of FedEx Cup champion and Team USA member Patrick Cantlay, the bookmakers on both sides of the Atlantic once again labelling the defending champions underdogs, or the general perception that the European Tour is very much a junior partner on the global circuit, Harrington sees plenty of buttons to press in the blue team room at Whistling Straits next week.
Speaking to Irish golf journalists this week, Harrington expressed his belief that Rahm, who took down Tiger Woods in the singles at Le Golf National on his debut in the 17.5 to 10.5 European win in 2018, can continue the role of talismanic Spaniard that began with Seve Ballesteros and ran through Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia.
“Nobody wants it more than Jon Rahm, and he’s been incredible all year,” the skipper said. “The passion he has for this. I’m sure he’s pretty motivated at the moment, too.
“And look, he is very much in the mould of the great Spanish players, of a Seve, he’s very passionate. He has got the game to back it up too, which clearly as the world number one he will be the one leading out on the golf course.
“He will be leading on the golf course. I don’t know if that means (going out in the first match), probably not because of the fact I hate being predictable.”
Harrington likes his hand and is not fazed by the fact rival captain Steve Stricker will have 11 of the top 16 in the Official Golf World Rankings at his disposal, compared to the trio (Rahm, rookie Viktor Hovland and Rory McIlroy) in his camp.
“I have a very balanced team, I think. Both in the styles of their play for foursomes and fourballs, their experience, there are some senior players in there. Some older players in there, some young guys in there. We can have a bit of fun with the young guys and they do bring a lot of enthusiasm in.
“I do have a couple of guys with one Ryder Cup (Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, and Tyrrell Hatton), they’re perfect. They’ve learned but they still have I suppose the raw enthusiasm going back. So yeah, it looks on paper to be a really nice balance.
“Clearly if you want to focus, which we’re not, on the US, they are stronger than us in the world rankings and if a computer was deciding the result of this tournament the Americans would win. But it’s not a computer. There’s more to it than that.
“I know my job as captain is getting that balance right on Friday and Saturday with the foursomes and fourballs, setting ourselves up to be in a nice place to go into the singles. And that’s really the captain’s job, to get those partnerships right, to get everybody in the right frame of mind to get yourself poised to go into the singles.
So what kind of captain will Harrington be? He has played under six different skippers, from his 1999 debut under Mark James at Brookline to his 2010 swansong under Colin Montgomerie at Celtic Manor, and served three more as a non-playing vice-captain.
So, as was pointed out to him this week, he should have a fair idea of what does and doesn’t work.
His instinct is to emulate the efficient management style of Bernhard Langer, the winning European captain at Oakland Hills in 2004.
Yet if he leans towards Langer’s practicality and organisational strengths, the 50-year-old is also determined to hone a more holistic approach that enables him and his five vice-captains to find common ground with the varied personality types in his team next week. If someone requires an arm around their shoulder, Harrington wants to identify that need and address it.
“Probably the thing I had to work on most is that not everybody thinks the way you think,” he said. “So basically, one size does not fit all and I have to do a job for everybody and one of the most important things we do during the week is we profile the players to find out what exactly each player needs and wants and we assign (somebody). I have to be on top of that but vice-captains are also on top of that, so we know what everybody needs and wants and we make sure that that is fulfilled...
“So I hope we will fill that role for everybody. I think ultimately I have to make sure that I give the feeling that I have confidence in my players.
“That is the goal. Sometimes, when I’ve done what I’ve done in the game, and to some of these guys that’s a while ago too, it stands out that you could be just a little bit aloof, adrift… And I have to make sure (they don’t think) I think I’m any better than them, that I believe in them and that’s something I’ve worked very hard on, because I actually do believe in my team. I’ve a fantastic team of ball strikers and players and I have a role for everybody in that team.
“Every single person in that team has a purpose during the week, and I can see it clearly, and it is my job to make sure I feed into that and make sure they play that role.”
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