Padraig Harrington used last Thursday night’s annual Irish Golf Writers Awards dinner to suggest the possibility of a Ryder Cup ‘neutral venue’ if the biannual encounters between the USA and European Team’s continue to be as close as they have been in recent years.

Harrington was among a who’s who of Irish golf attending the dinner at the famed Portmarnock Golf Club.

The dinner is actually held each year in December but was put on this occasion to accommodate European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley.

Earlier in the day, McGinley had announced his first two Gleneagles vice-captains in Sam Torrance and Des Smyth, and with Smyth present at the awards dinner.

It was during a question and answer session that Harrington was asked about the recent European Team dominance of the Ryder Cup.

“We’ve seen in the last couple of Ryder Cup’s the matches have become a bigger for them (USA Team), and you have to thank the European Team for pushing it on them,” said Harrington.

“It’s become a tight, tight match now, and home advantage is nearly playing too significant advantage now and affecting the results now.

“It’s really, really difficult for a team to win away from home now.”

McGinley then chose that line to interrupt Harrington saying:  “I hope so!”

Anyway have a look at the video of Harrington’s comments from the awards dinner.