Harrington has little hope of swift change at Ryder Cup

Padraig Harrington believes a neutral figure should take charge of the course setup for the Ryder Cup, but concedes that is unlikely to happen soon.

Three-time major winner Harrington is the favourite to succeed Thomas Bjorn as Ryder Cup captain as Europe seek to defend the trophy they won in Paris at Whistling Straits in 2020.

It may be a tough task as home advantage takes on increasing significance, with Europe’s win in 2012 the only success by an away side in the last seven biennial contests against the US.

“It is called the Miracle of Medinah,” Harrington said ahead of the Turkish Airlines Open. “It’s not impossible to win away from home, but it gives a distinct advantage to the home team.”

Asked if the set-up of Ryder Cup venues should be taken out of the hands of the home captain, Harrington added: “I think down the road, yes.

“At Hazeltine (in 2016) they just knew. They had a stats guy come in and he said we make more birdies than the Europeans, make this into a birdie-fest and we should win.

“We knew going into France, make par be very precious and Europe will have an advantage and it proved that way.

“I don’t see that changing. I might have started the conversation off, but it will take 20, 30, 40 years to move to a neutral set-up.”

The good news for Harrington, if he does become captain for 2020, is twofold.

Firstly, he believes home advantage could be partly negated by the nature of Whistling Straits, and secondly his style of captaincy is likely to resemble that of Bernhard Langer, who led Europe to a record victory at Oakland Hills in 2004.

“For whoever is captain next time, I think the American players aren’t that happy that it’s at Whistling Straits,” Harrington said.

“They know they’d have a better chance of winning the Ryder Cup if they went back to a Hazeltine-style golf course.”

Padraig Harrington: Wants to be captain