Harrington says LIV Golf tension can help Europe: "For a week, get over it…
Padraig Harrington has urged Europe to welcome back their Ryder Cup legends this September, highlighting his feud with Sergio Garcia.
Harrington famously engaged in a bit of a spat with the Spaniard at the height of his career.
In short, as Harrington put it to the Guardian back in 2008: "We have zero in common, bar the fact that we both play golf. He is the antithesis of me and I am the antithesis of him."
But all that was swept aside when the duo competed in the Ryder Cup.
"Myself and Sergio used to hug at the Ryder Cup," Harrington told The Telegraph's Tom Cary this week after the shock decision from the PGA Tour to agree a deal with LIV Golf's backers.
Harrington added:
"When you are playing you get over these things. You work through it. You'd be surprised when you get in a team [environment] a bit of tension does help. You want a bit of drive in there. For a week, you know, you get over it."
Harrington now believes the agreement between the PGA Tour and PIF has completely changed the outlook of the competition.
He said:
"The [LIV players] definitely warrant consideration. They're good players. I don't know if they're going to be selected in the top 12 players at this stage. But to suggest that there aren't players capable of being Ryder Cup players over at LIV would be silly.
"A couple of them are getting…like they were at the stage with my team [in 2021] that, you know, maybe it was their last hurrah. But not all of them for sure."
"All teams have it. Look at the England football team. Most of the players are kicking the hell out of each other in football matches two weeks previous. Everything goes out the window at the Ryder Cup to make the best possible team.
"So I don't see tension being an issue. Like, you wouldn't necessarily be partnering them up. But you could have a situation where two LIV players are picked on the team, and they're so desperate to win five points each to prove the value of LIV, that it could be good."
The two-time Open winner was previously in favour of stripping Henrik Stenson of the captaincy after his decision to join LIV Golf.
He has always maintained the players were well aware there would be consequences for their decisions.
On the subject of the wider 'deal', Harrington said he's not going to pass a moral judgement on anybody else for 'what they think or believe'.
He said:
"There's terrible human rights in Saudi Arabia. And we'd all love that to change. But we don't have a magic wand to do it. And hopefully, it will change over time. Hopefully, this inclusion will help it change over time.
"But I'm not going to judge anybody who is not breaking the law. The Saudi Arabians are well entitled, in a free market, to come and try and build a business in golf, as they have done in Premier League football, and in so many different places, if they so choose. That's what freedom is.
"But remember, I think there's four Irish golfers who said no [to LIV]."
