Heavenly Harrington
Last updated: 8th February 2008
Harrington: tipped for Valhalla
It's a great help for a captain to have Padraig Harrington as a card that you can throw out anywhere on the table - you can put him with anyone.
Richard Boxall
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Richard Boxall reckons Padraig Harrington is a certainty for Europe's Ryder Cup team because of his "heavenly" versatility.
Harrington is currently 14th on the European Ryder Cup points list and sits 12th on the European world points list behind potential new faces like Daniel Chopra and Martin Kaymer.
But former European Tour player Boxall insists Harrington's place in Nick Faldo's team should not be in any doubt because of his performances in four previous Ryder Cups when he has played with a variety of different partners such as Henrik Stenson, Paul McGlinley and Colin Montgomerie.
He told Golf Night: "It's a great help for a captain to have him as a card that you can throw out anywhere on the table - you can put him with anyone. He's absolute heaven for Nick Faldo.
"He is a fantastic team man and he has an extremely good record at singles.
"There is the possibility he will be a captain one day because he has played in four Ryder Cups and he has won a major as well.
"He'll have to squeeze in two or three more Ryder Cups before you'd put him in as captain and that is quite a long way down the road. It's at least six years away, but he's a great thinker and would be a good captain."
New faces
Harrington himself has said there will be new faces in Faldo's team and Boxall feels rising stars like Kaymer, Chopra and even Richard Finch could line up at Valhalla in September.
And Boxall offered particular praise for Kaymer after the German bounced back from a nightmare finish at the Scandinavian Masters to win in Abu Dhabi last month and then to finish second in Dubai last week.
He added: "I think Padraig Harrington has got to be in the team, but I think he's right when he says there will be changes, because the wheel turns and people fall off.
"There will be some changes. At the moment we've got people like Daniel Chopra, who some people have never heard of because he hasn't played on the European Tour for a while, but he is doing well in America.
"And there's also Martin Kaymer, who is right up there. And you never know, Richard Finch might make it into the team.
"Looking at Kaymer, there was a lot of pressure on him after he had a good lead in the Scandinavian Masters. The last hole was a par-three and he double-bogeyed the last hole and he went from needing a par to win to finishing third or fourth.
"But he proved everyone wrong in Abu Dhabi as a fairly impressive wire-to-wire winner and then he finished second in Dubai.
"There was a lot of pressure on him, but much of that will have been eased now."
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