Padraig Harrington hopeful 2020 Ryder Cup will go ahead as planned
Wednesday 18 March 2020 16:05, UK
European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington has played down speculation that this year's contest will be postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Multiple organisations reported on Tuesday that the biennial event - scheduled for September 25-27 - was going to be pushed back a year due to the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19.
Ryder Cup Europe and Ryder Cup Team USA both released statements on social media describing the news as "inaccurate", while Harrington confirmed there are currently no plans to change the date of the contest.
Speaking to Today FM, Harrington said: "September is a long way off so there's no change to the situation at all at this stage. I know there's been some rumours and they had to put out a statement to say there's been no change, but there's definitely no change.
"I'm on the inside of these things. Normally you're looking at 'anonymous source says this...' but now that I'm on the inside you go 'wow, it really is made-up stuff'.
"There was a big announcement (on Tuesday) by the PGA Tour about events being cancelled until May and now the PGA Championship has been postponed as well, so that's as far as they've gotten - until the middle of the May is where they've taken steps to."
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The year's first two men's majors of the year, the Masters and the US PGA Championship, have been already been postponed due to the outbreak, while the PGA Tour has been cancelled until May 21 at the earliest.
