Padraig Harrington hopes Lee Westwood can reconsider his way to Ryder Cup team | Golf News

“Lee will be playing his way in the freedom of another place to pick, which would help because I have a number of high-level players who don’t like to make the team automated. So that’s all about Lee playing well to my advantage ”

Padraig Harrington believes Lee Westwood can earn an automatic qualification for his team at the Ryder Cup and save him a legacy when he considers his captains.

Westwood has been in blown form over the past six months, capturing the Race to Dubai title for the third time last year and continuing with a resurgence on the PGA Tour, with top finishes -10 back in Florida lifts it back to the top 20 in the world rankings.

The England veteran, who turns 48 next month, missed out on Bryson DeChambeau at Bay Hill and then just finished a look behind Justin Thomas at the Players’ Championship on Sunday, and Harrington believes he can make his way. -in to the European team for Whistling Straits and “free up” wild card selection.

Harrington would have hailed Westwood for both his playing ability and his encouragement in the team room, something he acknowledged was lacking in Europe when Nick Faldo did not select Darren Clarke in his squad for his team. ‘heavy defeat of Team USA at Valhalla in 2008.

“You want to know boys who play well,” Harrington said ahead of this week’s Honda Classic. “You can’t just have an experienced guy for him. You want an experienced guy playing well, and it’s good to see Lee playing well.

“I’ll take a look at my team and look at the balance and you would definitely want to do a little more than just playing golf that week, but I’m looking at it. and I seem to be getting a nice balance so far. Most of the people who are going to get certified automatically look like that side of my team is taking shape.

“Of course, Lee is playing his way in freeing up another place to pick, which would help some of the older boys as I have a number of top players who don’t like to make the team self- So everything about Lee is playing really well for me. “

But when asked about what he learned from Valhalla’s European case, Harrington added that Faldo longed to have a “team leader” in the locker room, with loaders Ryder Cup striker Colin Montgomerie and Clarke both missing.

“The U.S. was a better team, just right, on a golf course that suited them,” Harrington said. “We weren’t very good together. I was a senior player there, with Lee Westwood and Miguel Angel Jimenez, but we didn’t have a boss in the team room.

“I think lifting Darren Clarke was probably not one of those big mistakes at the Ryder Cup. You need personality in the team room. We didn’t have Monty, so would Darren has done that job.I think if you look back, you could definitely look at that selection because it was a little missing in that team room.

“I had just won a majors or two. I was too busy doing my own thing to try to take over that responsibility, and we certainly missed that. We missed a leader. in the locker room. Would that make a difference to the result? As I said, that looked like a strong U.S. team. “

Harrington also welcomed a return to the form of Open champion Shane Lowry at TPC Sawgrass, where he finished eight places of his first top-10 from the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational in August last year.

“Shane has been playing probably the best golf I’ve ever seen playing recently,” he said. “He hasn’t been doing very well. As I said about a few players, I’m never disappointed to see a player play well but I don’t get the results at all. this time of year because i know they are going to turn around for Shane.

“I see good shape there, and when it turns, it will be at the right time of year. It’s going to come in, as you said, the majors, and then lead up to Ryder Cup. It ‘s weird that Shane would be a rookie, but you think of him as a top player. “

Harrington also admitted that he was “deceived” by Rory McIlroy ‘s announcement last week that running extra speed and speed – inspired by Bryson DeChambeau’ s victory at the US Open – had failed. adversely affecting his path, which is clearly evident by the fact that he missed the cut by 10 beats at Sawgrass.

“It’s not like I didn’t do it myself, so I’m not going to sit here and judge it. I’m deceived, Rory used that machine directly in it in 2010 and 2011, and Rory hit long and just hit more let drivers like the likes of DJ, Bubba Watson, JB Holmes – they were all trying to play golf like the rest of us at that level.

“Rory came out and started hitting drivers on more holes, being more aggressive off the tee. That’s when you started to see those people free and leave, oh, maybe they should What you see on Tour now is pretty much the whole field now hitting drivers on holes that used to lie off the tee, we all pushing that risk.

“Bryson is out there on his own alright right now. The field doesn’t have to worry about one man. It’s clear that Bryson is a good player, a good player, so they have to worry. take about, but not too long.

“But you don’t have to do it right now. At the moment the 180mph ball speed is good enough. Rory easily has that. He’s the best ball driver in the game. So he doesn’t have to worry about If you’re trying to hang around for 10 years, you may need to think about trying to get those 190mph ball speeds. “