Padraig Harrington’s enthusiasm to jump straight onto the Champions Tour when he turns 50 at the end of August looks certain to be delayed till after the Ryder Cup.
While advising rival USA Ryder Cup captain, Steve Stricker ‘he is going to play right away in September’ that may not be possible even with Harrington becoming eligible on Tuesday 31st August, 2021.
Padraig Harrington’s plunge into the over-50s certanily to be delayed a month to after to the Ryder Cup (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
It means Harrington could tee-up on Thursday 2nd September but there is no Champions Tour nor Legends Tour event that week, and not to the 10th to 12th September’s $2m Ascension Charity Classic on the Norwood Hills Country club course in St. Louis, Missouri.
The same week there is the European Legends Tour Scottish Senior Open hosted by Paul Lawrie and at a venue to be confirmed.
However, that week is also the most-important September 9th to 12th BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and the final qualifying event for 2021 European Ryder Cup selection. Harrington is definitely not going to be making his ‘seniors’ debut that week so rule that week out immediately.
You can also rule out the following week while the start of the following week, Monday 20th September, as Harrington and his team will be arriving at Whistling Straits.
That brings us to the first week in October and the week of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, and with Harrington a two-time past champion and a week he’s always enjoyed competing in the company of long-time good friend J P McManus.
The Alfred Dunhill Links will take place from September 30th to October 3rd but from Friday October 1st to the 3rd is the Legends Tour Farmfoods European Senior Masters at the Forest of Arden course near Birmingham in England.
My guess is Harrington will choose the European Senior Masters to make his over-50s debut and then make his Champions Tour debut a week later at the October 8th to 10th Constellation Furyk and Friends at the Timuquana Country Club, Jacksonville, Florida and boasting a purse of $2m.
So, while Harrington sounded very enthusiastic to be joining the Champions Tour in speaking to Stricker at this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, a more workable date for Harrington to make his ‘over-50s’ debut is the first week in October.
“I asked Padraig when I saw him at the start of the week when he was going to play the Champions Tour,” said Stricker.
“He turns 50 in August and he is going to play right away in September, he thought.
“So he’s still got a lot of games, too. He hits it a long way, and another feather in the cap for the Champions Tour when he comes out to play for sure.”
Stricker, 53 is a five-time winner on the Champions Tour and, much like Shane Lowry, is the 2019 reigning US Senior Open champion with the 2020 championship cancelled due to the coronavirus.
And while Harrington spoke ahead of last week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic regarding the ‘party atmosphere’ he’s looking forward to at September’s rescheduled 2021 Ryder Cup, he’s expressed fears in speaking with Stricker there still may be a ‘no spectator’ Ryder Cup.
“We talked a little bit about the Ryder Cup and he (Harrington) was asking me if we were going to have fans,” said Stricker.
“I said to him that as far as that goes. It’s too early to tell, right?
“We don’t know what’s going to happen yet. So we just got to keep plugging away like it’s going to happen with full fans or half fans or no fans.
“I’m sure we’re going to play it. The amount of people there is still up in the air I guess. And he feels the same way. But we know we’re going to play it in September I would think, but we would love to see a full house for sure.”
What Stricker and Harrington each have in common, and with over seven months until they meet formally at Whistling Straits, is that both captains have been spending time assessing the younger players who are pressing for a Ryder Cup cap.
“Well, I totally expected to be on the Champions Tour this year because we were supposed to play the Ryder Cup last year, and then I was going to be pretty much done out here and then strictly Champions Tour stuff”, said Stricker.
“Now that the Ryder Cup is pushed off to the end of this year, that brings me out another year, which I’m totally good with and fine with and I enjoy the challenge.
“So it’s nice to come out. I see the guys, I get to talk to them, I see them, I play some practice rounds with them occasionally. So it puts me with them. It gets me in a position where I can listen to them and talk to them about what we need to do going forward.
