Padraig Harrington has drawn upon a bleak period in Northern Ireland’s history to play down concerns over the staging of the Turkish Airlines Open this week.
The Dubliner, a three-time major winner, is one of the marquee names remaining here after Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed and Martin Kaymer belatedly withdrew over security fears. Contrary to reports, the Open champion Henrik Stenson was never entered to play in Turkey but the tournament build-up has been disrupted by those staying away.
“I tend to travel around the world and play around the world because I did it in the late 80s and early 90s in Ireland,” Harrington said. “We had our troubles in Ireland and I played a lot of golf in Northern Ireland during that period of time. I remember people, other golfers, saying: ‘You’re mad going up there.’ You used to go: ‘Wow, people are so nice, what are you thinking?’
“But you couldn’t convince people who had not gone there and experienced it for themselves that it was a great place to go, Northern Ireland. You didn’t get a more welcoming place, because you had travelled. They loved the fact that you would come and play.
“I think in that sense, that has made me travel the world and not necessarily think I am the centre of focus in any shape or form when I go places, like Brazil [for the Olympics].
“Brazil was great. You understand that there’s a much bigger picture than you as an individual so from those experiences, I never really mind travelling anywhere in the world.”
Harrington, who won the Portugal Masters last month, stood by his comments about the Ryder Cup captaincy in the aftermath of that victory.
The 45‑year‑old believes he can play for Europe in 2018 rather than put his name forward as a captain.
“I understand there are risks of not putting my name in the hat earlier but I want to play golf,” Harrington said.
McIlroy has not disappeared from view completely, however. Speaking to the NoLayingUp podcast on Tuesday, he suggested a change is needed to the Ryder Cup qualifying process. As it stands, only full members of the European Tour are eligible to qualify for the biennial event; the matter came into focus this year as Paul Casey refused to join, thereby passing up the opportunity to appear at Hazeltine.
“Honestly, it should be the best 12 players from Europe versus the best 12 players from the United States,” McIlroy said. “For me, there shouldn’t be anything to do with membership of tours. To have a guy like Paul Casey not on our team when he is playing some of the best golf in the world right now, it definitely hurt us.”
McIlroy also suggested a system without wildcard selections.
“I know that isn’t as exciting in terms of captain’s picks and qualifying process and everything else but if we’re trying to make it the fairest way for the best 12 to make each team, I think that’s the way to go,” he said.
• Ewan Murray travelled courtesy of Turkish Airlines
