Padraig Harrington predicts by the time he leads his European Ryder Cup team out onto the Whistling Straits each side will boast a grand slam champion.
The rival USA team with have Tiger Woods either competing or in the backroom team while Harrington’s backing Europe will be able to boast Rory McIlroy as a sixth member of the most exclusive club in golf.
It means McIlroy’s got two Masters, this week and the 2020 tournament, to bring Harrington’s prediction to fruition.
Harrington was asked this by my respected Telegraph and fellow AGW colleague, Jamie Corrigan.
“Is Rory odds-on to do it by then? I’d say he’s definitely an even money bet,“ Harrington said.
Harrington predicting Rory McIlroy will arrive at the 2020 Ryder Cup a grand slam champion
“If you give him two chances in this form, and he carried it into two Masters then you’d expect him to win one of them.”
Though the 2020 Ryder Cup is still 18 months away and with all focus on this week and whether McIlroy can, and what will be ‘Take Five’, win the one major to have alluded him.
McIlroy won’t steal all this year’s Augusta National limelight as Harrington was also full of praise for Woods as he seeks to win a first green jacket.
“Look, Tiger is well capable of winning majors again and he proved that at the Open [where he finished sixth] and at the PGA [where he finished second],” Harrington said.
“And I do think that he plays better under the pressure of a major and that he has an edge at Augusta. But it’s pretty straightforward to me. Back in the day the most famous statement about Tiger Woods was that he could win with his B-game – now he can only win with his A-game. Tiger is not the player he was 15 years ago and you might say that his A-game now was his B-game back then.
“I definitely think it’s the best Tiger’s played since 2014.
“Rory appears exceptionally comfortable with his game and his attitude has been strong and I wouldn’t worry about his so-called ‘major drought’. I know there’s a certain amount of pressure to complete the grand slam but, I think he’ll have a good balance and idea of what he needs to do to be prepared.”
