Padraig harrington praises Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup European team.

Padraig Harrington was not surprised when European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald announced his six captain’s choices for the 2023 matches, which will be played later this month.

He was not surprised when Donald called him a day earlier.

Luke called me politely to tell me that I was not selected. Harrington said that the phone call was more polite than necessary.

“I believe Europe is very powerful this year.” “I think we’re returning,” he said. I believe we are back in the 1980s and 1970s when our best players were the best players on the planet.

Harrington, a former captain, knows that a team with too many top players can be dangerous.

“We need to have a large pool of players, so that we can rest some of our top players for the singles.” “I think the most important thing to me is that everyone plays well,” said Harrington. His European team was historically defeated 19-9 by Americans at Whistling Straights in Wisconsin two years ago. “We are sure to have the best players in the top, but all players must perform well for the best players to sit out one match.”

Harrington is convinced that he led a team in 2021 with great attitude, regardless of the results. He’ll tell you that the COVID-19 season was the key.

“I believe we caught it just on their upturn, our turndown. “With the extra year COVID our team went down from being at its peak to slightly off, and we never came back,” explained he. “The U.S. Team were peaking. The extra year helped them to get into a good place. At that time, many of the players in the U.S. were at the top of their game. “If you look at names with two years’ hindsight now, the Americans were at their peak and the Europeans have only just entered that.”

The two ranking systems are the Official World Golf Ranking (based on points) and the Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking (head-to-head, see for more).

U.S. team and ranking

European rankings and roster