Can a 51-year-old make the Ryder Cup? We’ll find out soon

GULLANE, Scotland — LIV Golf, PGA Tour, DP World Tour, it doesn’t matter the place your desire lies. The participant with essentially the most fascinating schedule proper now’s a 51-year-old Irishman.

Padraig Harrington is right here on the Genesis Scottish Open the place the grass is agency however saturated after a mid-morning rain. The wind is up, and it switched instructions from the place it blew Thursday. The golf right here is far trickier than no matter his Champions Tour comrades are dealing with on the Senior Gamers Championship in sweaty Akron, Ohio. However Harrington is right here to embrace the trickiness. If he desires to play within the Ryder Cup this fall, now’s the time to point out it. His 67-66 is a beautiful begin.

“Luke [Donald] rang me a pair weeks in the past,” Harrington mentioned Friday. “He was really ringing me to say properly achieved for my win. And mentioned it will be remiss to say ‘I’m not watching.’

“I mentioned, [my schedule] goes to be very clear. How I play in Scotland and the way I play on the Open will decide all the things … I do know if I don’t carry out these two weeks, it’s the tip of that.”

That is likely to be the case. Harrington has reached the purpose in his profession the place each side of his golf is couched with the truth that he’s 51-going-on-52. He playfully sighed when one reporter started a query with “at your stage of life,” nevertheless it’s true. If he doesn’t play properly throughout these two begins in opposition to the very best gamers on the planet, why ought to he be thought of for one of many 12 prime spots on the European staff? Harrington is sufficiently old to have been a Ryder Cup captain. After that, you don’t be part of the staff as a participant. You trip off into the sundown on the Champions Tour, which is what he’s been doing. And mockingly what he thinks has helped him.

The mid-2010s have been a grind for Harrington. From 2016-2019, he made simply $434,000 in 38 occasions on the PGA Tour. He went again to devoting himself to the tour he grew up on, in Europe, and located himself having enjoyable once more. “Then once I went to the Champions Tour, I modified lots about what I do.”

Mentally, he reaches a extra snug place on the senior occasions. Is it fewer calls for? Increased expectations? No matter it’s, it results in higher golf. Six prime 10s in eight occasions. Usually, returning to the PGA Tour would immediate a wake-up name. However Harrington has made the reduce in each PGA Tour occasion this season — 5 for 5 — ending T10 on the Valero Texas Open. He slowly crept up the leaderboard on the weekend on the U.S. Open, ending T27, and now sits T5 midway by way of the second day of the Scottish Open, tied with the No. 1 participant on the planet.

“Actually guys,” he informed reporters Friday. “If I by no means hit the ball any higher than I did the final two days, I’d be completely happy very completely happy.”

The thought of an older veteran incomes a enjoying spot in a Ryder Cup isn’t with out precedent. Fifty-one-year-old Ray Floyd performed for the Individuals within the 1993 Cup, going 3-1 for the successful facet. Not too long ago, 48-year-old Lee Westwood competed on the 2021 European staff at Whistling Straits, brought to tears by the end of a record-setting defeat. It was the tip of an period for Westwood, who secured one level, throughout his Sunday singles match. Harrington was the captain. They’ve lived very completely different lives these final two years.

It’s undoubtedly Ryder Cup Season on this a part of the world. European captain Luke Donald gathered quite a few his potential staff members collectively Tuesday night for a barbecue. We’re simply seven weeks from the automated qualifiers cementing their place on the staff, after which six captain’s picks might be made. Till we put the query to Donald, will probably be onerous to say precisely the place Harrington ranks on his record of hopefuls. On the European factors lists, he’s nowhere shut. However in accordance with DataGolf, an analytics website, Harrington ranks nineteenth out of the eligible Europeans. Primarily, he’s two rounds into an eight-round tryout. Pre-qualifying, if you’ll. Champions Tour performances shouldn’t influence this race, Harrington mentioned, and also you don’t have an opportunity to catch the captain’s eye except you do it on the highest stage.

“If I turned up and performed the Senior Gamers Championship this week, then I’d be telling you I don’t suppose I can win the Open. As in, I do know I should be right here to play hyperlinks golf if I need to problem within the Open. I nonetheless suppose I’m a critical participant.”

Critical sufficient for us to speak about it.