PADRAIG HARRINGTON insists he has no problem with Nick Faldo choosing Paul Casey and Ian Poulter as the two captain's picks for the European Ryder Cup team.
Harrington last week said Darren Clarke deserved a spot on the European Ryder Cup team and added that Colin Montgomerie merited "serious consideration".
But the Irishman played a straight bat yesterday when asked to assess Faldo's somewhat controv
ersial selections to round off his team to take on the United States in a fortnight.
"It's obviously very disappointing for Darren, but a captain has many reasons for picking guys, and that's why you select a captain," said the Open and US PGA Championship winner, who will spearhead the European team.
"We all expected (Clarke to be chosen] but as a player on the team, you've got to go with the captain's choices.
"Often, during the week, partnerships are put together that maybe we didn't think about, and that's for the captain to do.
"He lives by it too. When the result is called in at the end of the week, if the team wins, the captain is a good captain. If the team doesn't win, the captain is always thought of as a bad captain.
"It's he who's on the line for this, and the players have to support him and pull behind him.
"Certainly, the two players he has added to the team are good players and will help."
While American captain Paul Azinger had the luxury of four captain's picks, Faldo was limited to two in a year when four or five players had legitimate claims to selection. But Harrington does not think the European selection system needs to be changed, given Europe has won five of the past six Ryder Cups.
"I think our qualifying system is excellent," he said. "It has worked very well in the past.
"Always, somebody is not going to get picked and that's why you select a captain, so select a captain wisely and then trust that he knows best."
Harrington was speaking on the eve of the BMW Championship at Bellerive, where he needs a good performance to advance to the Tour Championship, the final event in the PGA Tour's four-tournament play-off series.
Even though he has won the past two majors, the points system is structured so anyone missing the cut in the first two play-off events dropped precipitously in the standings.
Harrington, who has plunged to 44th after missing both cuts, needs to climb back into the top 30 after the BMW to earn a ticket to the Tour Championship, which will be held in three weeks, immediately after the Ryder Cup.
To do so, he needs to finish probably no worse than about sixth on Sunday, depending on what others do.
But if he does not qualify for the Tour Championship, Harrington will have no complaints.
"I'm lucky I still have a chance at qualifying," he said. "I've missed two cuts, I certainly should be out.
"This is the play-offs. It should be judged on the merits of those four tournaments, with a little bit of bias to the start of the year.
"I like the volatility. I think there could be more volatility."
The full article contains 546 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
