Padraig Harrington was hardest Ryder Cup cut, says Jose Maria Olazabal

JOSE Maria Olazabal, the European Ryder Cup captain, has defended his decision to overlook three-time major champion Padraig Harrington for one of his wild cards for next month’s match at Medinah.

The Irishman’s run of six straight appearances in the biennial event came to end yesterday after Olazabal added Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and Englishman Ian Poulter to his ten automatic selections.

Speaking at Gleneagles, the Spaniard revealed his phone call to Harrington had been the hardest of the handful he made to players who’d just missed out on the coveted wild cards for the match on 28-30 September. However, he insisted the Irishman could have no complaints after finishing 19th on the European points list at the end of a year-long qualifying campaign. “I felt I had to make the phone call to Padraig more than anyone else,” said Olazabal, who also got in touch with David Lynn, Rafael Cabrero-Bello, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Alvaro Quiros after they’d fallen just short as well. “Padraig is a very good player, but you could also say that about the likes of Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson, other former Ryder Cup players. The fact is that he [Harrington] didn’t perform well enough. He’s a great champion, but Thomas [Bjorn] was also ahead of him on the list.”

Olazabal again denied that his decision to overlook Harrington had nothing to do with them having a rules rumpus during the 2003 Seve Trophy. “That is totally unfair as I want to have the best players in my team,” added the two-time Masters champion. Olazabal “If Padraig had won [the Barclays Championship at the weekend] he’d have been in the equation.”

Asked how his decision had been received by Harrington, who could only finish in a tie for 19th at Bethpage Black, Olazabal replied: “My perception was that he took it well.”