Should be a lot of fun for the Europeans.
It came as absolutely no surprise Tuesday morning when the cat that was already out of the bag, came out again and Paddy Harrington was officially named the captain of the 2020 European Ryder Cup team.
Of course they had the expected formal press conference and Paddy certainly stuck to an expected script when he gave us this:
“It is a tremendous honor to be named Ryder Cup Captain and I am relishing the next 20 months as we work towards Whistling Straits and Europe’s defense of the trophy. I have played under, and been involved with, many wonderful European captains since I made my debut in the contest 20 years ago and I would like to think that my captaincy will be a mix of all of them. I am very much looking forward to taking on this role.”
Ho hum.
Perhaps he could have come out with something like: “We plan to go to Whistling Straits and kick the Americans squarely in their collective butts!”
No, that would have been too much locker-room wall material.
No, Paddy was downright polite.
Paddy’s first Ryder Cup experience started at Brookline in 1999 when he teamed up with Miguel Ángel Jiménez in the day one foursomes to halve with Davis Love III and Payne Stewart before claiming his first singles victory, defeating Mark O’Meara, 1-up.
Harrington’s first taste of victory came in the next edition at The Belfry in 2002 where he took two points from his four matches – partnering Colin Montgomerie to beat Phil Mickelson and David Toms in the fourballs and defeating Mark Calcavecchia 5 and 4 in the singles.
Overall, Paddy scored 10 points in his six cup appearances. He’s the third Irish player to be named captain following Paul McGinley an Darren Clarke.
Welcome to the party, Paddy.
