European Ryder Cup Captain Padraig Harrington joined OTB's Golf Weekly ahead of the start of the tournament this week.
Harrington has come under some scrutiny in recent weeks over his selection of Shane Lowry and non-selection of Justin Rose.
But now that his team is settled, the golf takes centre stage.
He believes that he is bringing a strong and balanced team to Wisconsin and that is reflected in how difficult it was to leave Rose out. The Ryder Cup begins on Friday with foursomes and Europe are the reigning champions.
While Harrington has won four Ryder Cups before, winning as captain on American soil would be something special. He recognises the gravity of the opportunity in front of him.
“There's not a lot that can change my legacy in golf,” Harrington said.
“Even if I went and won another major, would it change anything? Three, four majors? Certainly winning another tournament is nice but it's not anything more than just winning another tournament.
Being Ryder Cup captain would be very high on my CV...this is important to me and very important if I can be a winning Ryder Cup captain away.
It's an exceptionally big deal and it adds a lot to my legacy."
🗣️ "Being a winning #RyderCup captain away is an exceptionally big deal"
Padraig Harrington on @GolfWeeklyOTB speaking about what it would mean to win the Ryder Cup next week.
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Since his legacy could be impacted, it's no surprise that Harrington is enduring some levels of stress, although they're not necessarily rearing their heads in overt ways.
"There is a level of stress.
I don't get too stressed. I make a conscious effort that my team isn't stressed but I will say last week I did notice on the Saturday...I had forgotten to eaten lunch, now for me not to eat food when it's sitting in front of me there's obviously something going through my mind that distracted me.
I had a couple of nights last week that I slept like a baby so obviously, there's a bit going on during the day.”
