Padraig Harrington and rival USA Captain, Steve Stricker played host to the 2020 Ryder Cup ‘Year To Go’ Ceremony at Whislting Straits in Wisconsin.
The duo entertained questions from the attending media ranging in subjects from why Europe dominated at the 2018 Ryder Cup, home match versus away matches, what both have learnt in being vice-captains, the nature of the Whistling Straits venue, the impact of the Ryder Cup to the state of Wisconsin and the first memories of both captains from their experience of the biennial competition.
Harrington also spoke of the possibility, and certainly not to for many a decade, of the likelihood of the Ryder Cup being played on a ‘neutral’ venue.
Given the 2020 Ryder Cup is officially a year away both Harrington and Stricker can hardly speak of the make-up of their 12-man sides though Harrington did speak of the challenge of being away captain and also how he felt he will embrace the practical, straight forward Bernard Langer style of captaincy.
And in revealing a goal to mirror the captaincy style of the German, who led Europe to a then record nine-point success at Oakland Hills in 2004, the Dubliner indicated his captaincy manner will also be in stark contrast to the ‘fuzzy’ manners he says in referring ot the style adopted by 2002 winning Ryder Cup captain, Sam Torrance and also 2006 winning European Team leader, Ian Woosnam.
Host USA Captain Steve Stricker and visiting European Team captain, Padraig Harrington at the ‘Year to Go’ ceremony at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. (Photo PGA of America)
First Harrington addressed the difference from being a home captain as opposed to being a visiting captain.
“I suppose it’s a different challenge to being a home captain. There’s no doubt when you’re a home captain, a lot of your
captaincy is setting up the golf course and the challenge that everybody is going to get,” said Harrington.
“You get to make a lot of choices when you’re the home captain. As the away captain, you are presented with a lot of -presented with certain options, the only options. Mostly about my captaincy would be just managing my team, the nine players and then the three captain’s picks.
“When I have that team, it’s putting them together in the right format for foursomes and fourball. It’s hopefully managing their expectations during the week for what they are going to see and what they are going to, how the event will — you know, how it will — the ebbs and flows of the event.
“You know, that will probably be more with rookies than the senior players. They have been here before. They
have seen it before. But even then, I’d be the sort of person, I’d be more of the Bernhard Langer style of captaincy than the warm and fuzzy Ian Woosnam style of captaincy or Sam Torrance. I wouldn’t be the guy — I will try and be the
guy to put the arm around the shoulder, but I will definitely be more on the Bernhard Langer style of being practical, and try and be organized and give the guys as much help as I can.
“Outside of that, just like Steve said, you try and pick up from all the captains over the years the good and the
bad, and try and develop the good. There won’t be too much — I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel here.
“There’s not going to be too many — I don’t have new ideas that are going to come in and revolutionize how we captain a team or a European Team. Just going to try to be more of the same and present all the options to my players so that they are in the best possibleposition to play their own game and their best game.”
On the subject of moving the competition to somewhere outside of Europe or America, Harrington added: “Clearly in Europe, we get to set the golf course up and we set it up in every way we can to suit our players, and in the States, we have seen that as well, where it is set up to be the most advantageous for the home team.
“It is not going to happen probably in my lifetime, but 40 or 50 years down the road with the Ryder Cup still going along, it would probably be best to have a neutral set-up.”
