Gollan, Scotland — Padraig Harrington isn’t ruling out the idea of playing in another Ryder Cup, even at the age of 51, depending on his performances in a fortnight against the world’s best players.
He emboldened that hope on Friday at the Scottish Open after a 4-under 66 at the Renaissance club left him two shots off the early pace set by Tyrell Hatton and Tom Kim.
Harrington said European captain Luke Donald called him after winning the PGA Tour Champions two weeks ago to say he was watching. But the Irishman doesn’t think his performance in the 50-and-over circuit should be taken into account.
His measure is the Scottish Open and the Open Championship next week at Royal Liverpool.
“I’ve got those two events,” said Harrington. “I’ll see at the end of them.” “I’ll talk to Luke, see where I stand. If necessary, I’ll change my schedule. I was supposed to play some Champions Tour events in the middle of summer. But I’ll change and go back and play European Tour events if I have a real chance.”
Harrington was captain two years ago at Whistling Straits, where a young American team playing to the limit gave an aging European team its worst ever loss in the Ryder Cup.
Raymond Floyd in 1993 and Jay Haas in 2004 are the only players over the age of 50 to play in the Ryder Cup, which is a long shot for Harrington to be considered. But he did not rule it out.
Harrington finished fourth in Abu Dhabi on the European Tour at the start of the year. He has made the cut in all five PGA Tour events he has played, most recently a tie-breaker 27th in the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
“The way I play in Scotland and how I play in the World Open will determine everything,” he said. “It put me under a lot of pressure coming here because I know if I don’t perform those two weeks, that’s the end of it.
“If I don’t have a good two weeks, I’m not going back (to Europe). I’m going on the Tour of Champions,” he said. “Two weeks on average, I don’t know where I’ll have that left. If I have a good two weeks, that obviously means something.”
Europe has lost experience from many of the players who went on to LIV Golf – Sergio Garcia, Thomas Peters, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey – some of them renounced their European Tour membership and thus became ineligible.
Harrington doesn’t see this alone as creating an opportunity for him. He likes the way the top Europeans play and how the young players are starting to emerge.
“I don’t think they’re striving for my need for the team,” he said.
But he says he’s physically able to compete against the best — his last win outside of the PGA Tour Champions was the Portugal Masters in 2016 — as long as his head is in the right place. That’s why I skipped a major this week at Firestone Country Club in Ohio.
“I still think I’m a serious player. I see some good things,” he said. “Honestly, if I don’t hit the ball better than I did the last two days, I’ll be happy. I wouldn’t change anything from the last two days. It all means you get the right break here or there, a hole in the right putt, I’ll be there in contention any week.”
For now, it’s about getting to Sunday in Scotland. Harrington has always said his goal is to get back into the defensive nine on Sunday with a chance and knowing where it takes him.
“So let’s see what the next 27 holes bring,” he said.