Pádraig Harrington insists he wants Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton to play on Europe’s Ryder Cup team in Bethpage Black next year after the PGA of America announced that LIV players would be eligible for the US Ryder Cup team.
The DP World Tour are yet to announce if this will be the case for LIV’s European contingent of which Rahm and Hatton headline but Chief executive Guy Kinnings insists the DP World Tour will not influence the timing of players’ appeals against fines imposed for playing LIV events in order to keep them eligible for the Ryder Cup.
“I saw the announcement from the PGA and it didn’t really say anything, it just said if you qualify you get to play which is what they did the last time,” said Harrington after his second round at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
“It was a funny announcement because it didn’t really add anything to what we already knew. Brooks Koepka played the last time.”
Rahm is now eligible for selection for Luke Donald’s side after opting to appeal the fines brought upon him by the DP World Tour for competing on the LIV tour while Hatton played in the Betfred British Masters earlier this month.
However, should they not qualify next year it would leave Europe without two of their star players and potentially inexperienced in terms of rookie selections and players who have not played an away Ryder Cup before.
“The difficult thing with the Ryder Cup is you do want some rookies but it does take time to be comfortable in that environment so you probably want a nice spread of nine experienced players and three rookies or four something like that because there is plenty of talent in those rookies,” Harrington added.
“As for the guys who have gone on to LIV the big two for us are Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. I want them to play, they were on my Ryder Cup team so I am behind them playing but I like everybody to abide by the rules so the rules need to be clear and set.”
Talks between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF continue and Harrington admits that he would have no problem in ironing out a deal if he had a seat at the table.
“If I was a benevolent dictator I’d be able to get it done but the rest don’t seem to be able to get it done. If I was sitting at the table I would get it done, that’s for sure.”
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