Pádraig Harrington doesn't want 2027 Ryder Cup captaincy on Irish soil
Rory McIlroy with Team Europe captain Padraig Harrington during the 2021 Ryder Cup. Picture: ©INPHO
Pádraig Harrington was officially inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday night in its new home at Golf House Pinehurst in North Carolina. Last week in a Zoom call with Irish media, the three-time major winner reflected on all of his career accomplishments that got him to this point of recognition as one of the game’s all-time greats, and the 51-year-old Dubliner relishes the opportunity “to catch lightning in a bottle” again and keep adding to his championship ledger on the senior circuit.
One thing Harrington doesn’t feel he needs to do, however, is get another chance at trying to be a winning Ryder Cup captain. His team lost in 2021 to a powerhouse American team at Whistling Straits before the landscape changed dramatically with the launching of LIV Golf cleaving a huge rift with a generation of European Ryder Cup heroes.
Luke Donald will return to the helm for Team Europe in 2025 at Bethpage Black after a triumphant captaincy last fall in Rome. Would that mean there is a possibility of Harrington getting a second bite at the captain’s apple with the 2027 Ryder Cup being staged at Adare Manor in Ireland – a place where Harrington won his only Irish Open in 2007.
Considering that the list of candidates for European captains was severely cropped with so many presumed choices in the pipeline burning bridges on the way out the door to LIV Golf, might Harrington want another crack at it in his home country?
“No,” Harrington said. “I used to say I didn’t think it was ever … it was always a one and done when it came to the Ryder Cup. It seems like at the moment, obviously, Luke was the right man to go back in with the job at Bethpage. I tell you what, it's a big ask to go into Bethpage, I think.
“Look, we’d all love to have a second go. But, certainly, I have not been pitching for that in any way, shape or form. Yeah, give somebody else a go. It’s a great honor to be Ryder Cup captain. It really is a great honor to be Ryder Cup captain. I’d love to be a winning Ryder Cup captain. I’d love all that sort of stuff.
"But, hey, I’m happy to see somebody else have a go and somebody else get that chance. Because it is a great honor and there’s plenty of deserving candidates and there will be plenty for 2027. So, you know, let it happen naturally. I don’t need to be doing that. Yeah, it’s something I’ve done and … I’m happy to see other people have a go.”
Harrington’s one chance got delayed a year by the pandemic in 2020. But the time his squad got to Whistling Straits in 2021 – with travel restrictions still in place preventing a representative European fan following – his team was aging out against a young and hungry American side that rolled to a 19-9 win.
“It’s strange with Whistling Straits,” Harrington said. “It’s really tough to lose, you know, to go out there as a captain and lose. It was tough. We can talk about the circumstances, you know, COVID and really the change in the makeup of both teams over the year was incredible. The U.S. seemed to be very weak the year previous and they were incredibly strong and deserved winners, no problem. So yeah, I can come up with excuses in that.
“But time mellows and I’m proud to be a Ryder Cup captain. I’m proud that my team had a great week that week in everything we did; everybody loved the week and was very appreciative of everything except for losing, which is what you’re going to be judged on. But time heals. You can only do what you can at the time and I don’t feel like we left any stone unturned for that.”
Unless a peace accord between the PGA and DP World tours and LIV Golf is resolved, a potential captaincy on Irish soil by Graeme McDowell, 44, might not be possible in 2027 despite the 2010 U.S. Open champion and four-time Ryder Cupper never being antagonistic since seizing the opportunity to join LIV as his career on the U.S. and European tours was in decline.
“Would I love to be the Ryder Cup captain in Ireland in ’27?” McDowell told the 5 Clubs podcast with Gary Williams last year. “I picture myself standing there on the stage giving the opening speech looking at my team behind me. I mean, beautiful. You know, I’ve got a tear in my eye just thinking about it. But that wasn’t a guarantee, it wasn’t a given.”
Other European heroes and presumptive captains in the Ryder Cup pipeline – Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter – have likely torched any hopes of reconciliation that would get them back in good enough graces to ever be considered. Henrik Stenson had his captaincy revoked for 2023 after signing with LIV, as Europe turned to Donald.
If not Irish options Harrington or McDowell in 2027, the most likely candidates to helm Team Europe would be Francesco Molinari, 41, or Justin Rose, 43. Ireland’s Shane Lowry will only be 40 in 2027 and would certainly prefer to try to play for Team Europe on home soil than be captain.
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