Pádraig Harrington on McIlroy's wedding: 'Literally the first person I met was Sergio Garcia'

“My relationship with Sergio is the best it’s ever been.”

Pádraig Harrington on McIlroy's wedding: 'Literally the first person I met was Sergio Garcia'

Love was clearly in the air at Ashford Castle in Mayo last weekend as Rory McIlroy wed his American fiancée Erica Stoll, writes Simon Lewis.

The romance even had the effect of bringing out the best in guests Pádraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia as the long-time rivals on the golf course set aside their differences and agreed to work on their similarities.

Despite a long association on tour and on numerous Ryder Cup teams, there has long been a frosty relationship between the Irishman and the Spaniard.

Two of Harrington’s three majors were won at the chief expense of Garcia, who lost a play-off at Carnoustie for the 2007 Open Championship and was reeled in down the stretch 13 months later as the Dubliner won the 2008 PGA Championship.

It was those two defining moments and the apparent differences in their personalities and approaches to golf that led Harrington to not merely praise Garcia in his moment of glory at the Masters earlier this month but also point out that he had paid his dues having been, well, a “sore loser”.

The comments in a radio interview quickly made headlines and not just in Ireland, but around the golfing world and inevitably got back to Garcia as he celebrated his play-off victory over Justin Rose at Augusta National.

The 37-year-old had joined 44-year-old Harrington as a major champion and now the two were heading for an awkward moment at McIlroy’s lavish wedding a fortnight later.

“As you would expect with these things, literally the first person I met was Sergio. It was something that needed to be done straight away and Sergio made it very easy,” Harrington explained yesterday before adding that all was now well between the pair.

“Right now at this moment, I would say my relationship with Sergio is the best it’s ever been.

“We’ve had a chat because clearly there was a bit of an elephant in the room with what I said.

“We have decided that we look at our similarities and the good in each of us rather than any other way.

“So we are in a great place. If anything it’s worked out so much for the better. It’s amazing how things work out.”

Currently five weeks away from making his comeback from neck surgery six weeks ago, Harrington was speaking at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in his role as an R&A Ambassador, ostensibly to discuss with the media this summer’s return of The Open to Royal Birkdale, scene of his famous 2008 victory, the major success that came between his duels with Garcia.

He also expressed his gratitude to the Spaniard for reading beyond the headlines and acknowledging that he had also praised his Augusta National success, finally getting over the line in his 73rd major appearance.

“He’d done his homework on everything that had been said and how complimentary I was.

"The crux of the radio interview was the fact that Sergio had turned the corner and shown how much he deserved to win the Masters... and at that moment he had paid his dues.

“He could see that, which was very good and I was delighted that I didn’t have to explain myself.

“But it did need to be dealt with, no doubt about it and he was exceptionally good with it, which was very positive.”

A decade on from the period of his career that will surely earn him Hall of Fame status, Harrington’s desire to continue competing at the highest level remains strong.

Thoughts of retirement have not entered his head, although if the unthinkable were to happen and he was to call it quits he would be a frontrunner for a future European Ryder Cup captaincy, perhaps as early as 2020 when the biennial dust-up with the United States will be played out at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

That would be a potential moment when Garcia could be on his team.

“I’d like to play. In my head I’m a player, Maybe I’ll be playing when Sergio captains me.

“The scenario would have to be that I’m retired by 2020 and I’d be captain.

“That’s a decision that would have to be made in a year and a half’s time to put my hat in the ring.

“Clearly Sergio would be available and if I was captain I think no matter what our relationship is, it’s the Ryder Cup and we’ve always gotten over it for the Ryder Cup but I think right now I would have his support.

"If Sergio wants to win the Ryder Cup in 2020, if he thinks I’m the right captain in 2020 he will support me. That’s the reality of it.

"You don’t bring personal into something as important as that but on the other side of it I believe if I was captain I’d have Sergio’s support, 100%.”

This story first appeared in the Irish Examiner.

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