Padraig Harrington headed for the Belfry yesterday with the Europe’s Ryder Cup hopes on his shoulders.

But the European number two believes that he can handle the extra responsibility that goes with being one of the European stalwarts.

Despite the fact that he is making just his second appearance, Harrington is now one of the major players in Sam Torrance’s side.

“Yes there is an added responsibility,” he said. “It’s likely that the team will look for me to play well.

“Going into the last Ryder Cup it was likely I wasn’t going to play too many matches until the singles so it’s a little more important this time around.”

In then end he played three out of five for Mark James as Europe lost 13.5 – 14.5 in the controversial match at Brookline in 1999.

Harrington enjoyed partnering Miguel Angel Jimenez in the foursomes.

“I’ve good memories of Brookline, very strong memories. Obviously it was exceptionally exciting and to be honest I have never experienced anything like it,” he revealed

Harrington and Jimenez halved with Davis Love III and Payne Stewart on the opening morning but then lost by one hole to Steve Pate and Tiger Woods on the second day.

But Harrington made up for it in the singles when he beat Mark O’Meara by one hole and clinch one of just three European wins on the final afternoon.

Now the Dubliner is confident that if his form allows him, he can play an even bigger role this time around.

“I’m reasonably happy that I can improve from here,” he said after Mount Juliet. “I’m not saying that I’m in top form and I do need to get a little bit better but I’m comfortable that I can do that in the next few days.

“The American Express Championship has no relevance really to the Ryder Cup when you think about it and obviously the Ryder Cup is totally different.

“You can win a match playing badly or lose a match playing well. So 72-hole strokeplay is usually a lot fairer than that but it’s good to see what your own form is and see what you have to do to get your own game in tip-top shape.”

The lukewarm reaction of some of the American team to the prospect of playing in the Ryder Cup has led some to suggest that there is more spirit in the European camp.

However, Harrington is not writing off his US rivals before the event gets under way.

He explained: “Our team spirit is very good. I don’t really know what the US team spirit is like. Certainly we have used team spirit to our advantage in the past and we seem to play better as a unit rather than as individuals.”

And he also revealed that a possible partnership with Paul McGinley would depend on their form in practice over the next few days.

“Hopefully Paul and myself will both be playing well. That’s the key thing,” Harrington said. “We’ve got to be playing well in order to form a partnership because there are 12 guys there and four sit out each session. So, we are not going to play if there are other players playing better than us.”

The pressure cooker affects all the top players and Harrington is sure he will start enjoying it WHEN IT’S OVER.

He explained: “It’s not enjoyable in the sense that going to the movies is enjoyable. It’s a bit more tense that that. It really is intense. It’s one of those occasions that the further the distance from the time you played it the more you think you enjoyed it.”

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© Brian Keogh 2002

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