Pod fears for Cup place

Harrington: relying on wildcard

Anyone who doesn't qualify doesn't deserve to be there. You just have to look for the good fortune of a captain's pick. If I'm not selected, I'll regret not doing a slightly different schedule.

Padraig Harrington
Quotes of the week

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Padraig Harrington has admitted that he does not deserve a place in Europe's Ryder Cup team and might not have done enough to secure a wildcard.

The 38-year-old has featured in the past five matches for Europe, but is now relying on a captain's pick from Colin Montgomerie to feature at Celtic Manor after a mediocre season.

Harrington could have played his way on to the team if he had chosen to compete at the final qualifying event at Gleneagles, but instead chose to stay in America to play in the first event of the FedEx Cup play-offs, along with other wildcard hopefuls Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Luke Donald.

Harrington's status as a three-time major champion and experienced Ryder Cup performer still appear likely to see him granted a pick by Montgomerie, but the Dubliner insists he will only have himself, and his American dominated schedule, to blame if he misses out.

"Anyone who doesn't qualify doesn't deserve to be there," Harrington was quoted as telling the Daily Mail at this week's Barclays Championship in New Jersey. "You just have to look for the good fortune of a captain's pick.

Schedule regrets

"If I'm not selected, I'll regret not doing a slightly different schedule. I had set my schedule with the expectation of playing good golf and expecting to qualify.

"That hasn't happened. In many ways, I prioritised playing well at the Ryder Cup and, in future, I'll have to prioritise that I qualify.

"I definitely should have played more counting events. If I had, I wouldn't have the worry I have at the moment.

"Unfortunately, I made the mistake of setting out my schedule with the idea that I was going to have a bumper year and this (qualifying for the team) wasn't going to be an issue.

"But I didn't really have any big finishes this year and that hurt me in terms of points."

Harrington has performed solidly at The Barclays and lies seven behind runaway leader Martin Laird heading into the final round.

But he concedes his performance is unlikely to sway Montgomerie either one way or the other.

Too late to sway opinion

"You don't believe it comes down to one particular week and you don't want to think that someone doing well here will have the advantage over someone not doing well here," he added.

"I believe Monty should make his decision based on the full year, who will play consistently and who he can rely on to play well. But having said that it's nice to be showing a bit of form and it won't do me any harm."

Montgomerie's assistant Paul McGinley has acknowledged that Harrington now finds himself in a difficult situation and hinted that his failure to return for the final two qualifying events could come back to haunt him.

"Everything was a shame," he stated. "Padraig was a thousand euro out of the team before last week, so make up your own mind.

"It's disappointing. Padraig is a world-class player and I've been fortunate to play great Ryder Cup matches with him and he's a really good friend of mine.

"But he's in for a pick. He hasn't qualified for the team and by his own admission, and from what I've read as someone was quoting him as saying, he hasn't had his schedule quite right and as a result he's looking for a pick."