Harrington torn over playing ‘diminished’ Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits

Padraig Harrington was planning to bring a 150-strong traveling party with him to the Ryder Cup, giving the people closest to the European captain something of an inside experience of one of the great events in golf.

“I'm now down to four, something like that,” Harrington said, rather dolefully, as he assessed the wreckage of a tournament that is still scheduled to be played Sept. 25-27 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

The coronavirus pandemic has ripped up the sporting calendar, but the Ryder Cup survives. So far.

And in a form Harrington knows will be unappetizing to many golf enthusiasts and people beyond the sport who are attracted to the boisterous biennial contest between the United States and Europe.

Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka, two of the biggest names in golf, have been among a growing group of players to have asked out loud: What's the point in a Ryder Cup without fans?

“My friends who don't play golf are into the Ryder Cup because of the buzz, the atmosphere, the excitement. That's why the players enjoy it and play it. It's going to be missed,” Harrington said.

“If it's on, it's without fans. Or without a semblance of fans because there won't be the ones coming from Europe. If you only have home fans, there's nothing to cheer for and against. That's it, at the end of the day.”

Harrington accepts, therefore, the 2020 edition of the Ryder Cup will be a “diminished” product.

But, in the big picture, can it still have wider value?

“The question is, do they take one for sport?” he asked. “Do people sitting at home want the Ryder Cup in a diminished format just so they have sport on TV?

“There is a much bigger thing going on,” Harrington added. “Put it in context of what's going on in the world. But this is why we are actually talking about the Ryder Cup going ahead.”

All the popular Irishman can do is prepare as if the Ryder Cup is going ahead in 4 [1/2] months, when Europe will be defending the trophy. He is excited by the imminent resumption of the PGA Tour, which will allow him to assess the play of some of Europe's more experienced golfers who might not make the 12man team via the European and world points lists.

Harrington said he needs at least six weeks of play, “just so I can judge form.”

The qualifying criteria is up in the air because of the shutdown of golf since March, and the Europeans are looking over “a number of different models” he said.

“None of them involve me having 12 picks, I can tell you that,” said Harrington, who has three wild-card captain selections as it stands.