Padraig Harrington will have just three wildcard picks when he announces his European team for next year’s Ryder Cup.
The European Tour made the announcement that the number of wildcard picks would drop from the four available to Harrington’s predecessor Thomas Bjorn to three for the next event at Whistling Straits in the United States.
Harrington had pushed for the change, which was officially ratified on Wednesday morning and will instead mean the fifth player on the Worlds Points List automatically qualifying for the European line-up.
The Irishman said: “I have said on many occasions that one of the reasons for recent European success in The Ryder Cup is continuity.
"It is a theme that will be prevalent across my captaincy and I think you can see that in the overall qualification process for the 2020 team.
“Having said that, I am pleased that the tournament committee agreed to the change of wildcard numbers.
"I have spoken to a number of people regarding the ninth player automatically qualifying for the team and, in my experience, a player is more comfortable when he has qualified, hence my reasoning behind this change.”
Qualification will officially begin in September at the BMW PGA Championship and conclude at the same event in 2020.
