Tough call to play in Saudi but right one, says Harrington
PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON believes the decision of European Tour chiefs to press ahead with an inaugural Saudi Arabia tournament, the Saudi International, in January 2019 was ‘not taken lightly’ in the wake of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. ‘The question comes when you go to something like this – are you helping by going or by not going are you pushing them away and making society poorer and weaker and less open by shutting them out?’ asked the three-time major champion. ‘There is no doubt by us being there it opens up society all the more, obviously that’s what the Saudis would like. ‘If we went back 50 years in any of our societies we needed to open up so it’s not 100 per cent clear, it’s not a black or white question or answer to say we are helping or not. Let’s hope we are. Let’s hope it’s a step forward rather than backwards.’ ‘I think the European Tour have taken the attitude at this stage they can be more of a positive force than a negative one,’ added Harrington. After banking over €500,000 between them last year, Harrington, Shane Lowry and Paul Dunne chase an end-of-season lift-off in the $7m Turkish Airlines Open which starts in Antalya tomorrow. At 47, a rejuvenated Harrington has his ‘head on’ as he seeks to feed off his fourth-place finish to Justin Rose 12 months ago, which was worth almost €300,000. ‘It was a nice week last year, I was in contention on Sunday and finished fourth. It’s good to get those feelings, so hopefully we’ll have them back this week,’ said the Dubliner. Lowry is also on a roll after chasing Sergio Garcia down the stretch in the Andalucia Valderrama Masters a fortnight ago and also likes the Regnum Carya Resort where he came eighth a year ago. ‘I didn’t play great on Sunday but it was still a good week. I was quite happy with it. I like it around here. It’s a lovely place to come and play golf. Everything about the place is perfect,’ he said. Dunne is eager to get into the thick of things again as his last top-30 finish was the French Open which finished on July 1. Ryder Cup stars Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Thorbjorn Olesen are the main players in the Rolex Series field but a number of Europe’s leading lights are missing, including Francesco Molinari, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm.
3 Number of Irish golfers in action at the Turkish Airlines Open which starts tomorrow in Antalya