European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington ‘selfishly’ insists we would dearly love to see Rory McIlroy playing as well as he did last week in Abu Dhabi no matter whether he’s winning or simply just being in contention.

McIlroy’s share of third last week was his ninth top-five finish in the UAE captital and soon had his game again under the golfing microscope.

Long-time European Ryder Cup star, Ian Poulter came out in support of McIlroy on Tuesday following the post Abu Dhabi HSBC criticism and now on the eve of this week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic, his fellow Irishman was nothing but praise and again reinforcing the worth of having McIlroy in his team heading later this year to Whistling Straits

“A 100% certain Rory is going to be one of a few stalwards in the team and wouldn’t we all like to play like Rory McIlroy,” said Harrington.

European Ryder Cup captain, Padraig Harrington backing Rory McIlroy 100%

“Here’s there in contention every week.  You look on and wish you could have weeks like him because you know plenty of wins are going to come.

“Rory’s been great in his career that he has had periods where he’s just not winning and this is probably a better period he’s had in not winning.  The best period Rory had ever of not winning is at the moment.  He’s there or there abouts all the time.

“If you looked at his career three, four, five years ago he could have been missing a few cuts on this run.  Now he’s just contending and right, he’s not getting across the line at the very end but when he does he will probably go on a run of winning six, seven or eight times a year.

“From a Ryder Cup point of view I am a little bit selfish as I am happy to see it.  Rory was unbelievable at the start of last year, and I said it at that stage that I would like to rein him in a little bit and hold him back as we don’t want him to be burning himself out so that he would be fresh and ready to go come September (2020).

“So, I am actually very pleased where he is at.  I would like to see him be a little bit … Rory is at his best when he’s trying to prove a little point or two and as good as he’s playing, obviously there is a little bit of pressure on him and there’s a bit of media speculaton so to say, but then Rory’s at his best when he’s like that.

“So, bring it on.  He’s in great form so keep pushing him and the best comes out.”

And Harrington was asked by this journalist if he had time to speak to McIlroy last week in Abu Dhabi.

“Oh, yeah, absolutely. To be honest, these bubble events are quite good in that sense because we’re all in the same place,” said Harrington.

“We’re meeting up quite a bit and it’s been good for me to be able to meet the guys and do a bit of planning.

“The one thing we can’t do obviously is we can’t sit down and have dinners because you’ve got to stay with your buddy, so I planned with most — not most, but some of the players at this stage, looking into when I can sit down and go through what they think and what they need and what goes on in their heads as regards to Ryder Cup.

“Last week I certainly started that process with Rory, chatting away with him, and we’re going to sit down now when we’re allowed to, when we’re allowed to sit down and have more of a detailed chat.

“At the moment, I’m just going through stuff. Robert Karlsson is here for these couple of weeks and we’ve been doing quite a bit and obviously Luke, we do it by text. It’s getting things in position, but for sure there is a little bit of a bonus to this that we are all in the one space, in the one bubble. So I do get to see the players a bit more.”