RSS
Sport


Home Page > Sport > Padraig Harrington in European Tour dispute

Blogs


comment on article Make a comment
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail

Padraig Harrington in European Tour dispute

Irishman’s comments infuriate European Tour players' committee chairman Thomas Bjorn

By
SEAN O' SHEA,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 1:49 PM
Updated Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 3:30 PM

 

Bookmark and Share

Irish golfer Padraig Harrington is caught up in a European Tour controversy

Comments Padraig Harrington made about the European Tour's plans to change some of its membership rules have caused a furor among the European Tour players' committee.

Chairman of the European Tour players' committee, Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, had suggested that high profile players should further commit to the tour and hinted at rule changes to enforce this.

When triple major-winning Irish golfer Harrington got wind of a possible rule change he was quoted in numerous outlets as follows:

"I don't believe in protectionism - I wonder if there may be a case for the European Union."

Bjorn was less than impressed on hearing this and said, "I don't know where Padraig is coming from and he always uses the press.

"He never comes to people on the committee and never will do. It's his committee - he does not seem to understand that. He seems to think that he is above it.

"We have discussions, he gets word of it and then he uses the press to slam the Tour," Bjorn told AP at the Dunhill Links Championship.

"Pretty much everything we do is to protect our leading players, but as chairman I have to look at every member as an equal.

"I find it disappointing that he does not come to me and talk. Instead he goes to the press and then it becomes a public discussion.

"I don't want to have a war of words with him, but we are a committee of 15 and that includes people like Monty, Clarky, Stenson, Karlsson, Jimenez and McGinley.

"They have all been out here a long time, so whose opinion are we going to give more weight to? We love having Padraig here in Europe, but there's a lot of experience on that committee.

"He may have won three majors, but Monty has won eight Order of Merits and knows all there is to know about the Tour.

"We make decisions through discussions and we also take a lot of lead from our executive.

"Padraig would need to play only one more event here if this proposal goes through. That's not asking a lot and for him to threaten going to the European Union is out of order."

print this article Print
email this articleE-mail


Be the first to make a comment.

It may take several minutes for your comment to appear.


Click to learn more from DiscoverIreland.com.


Connect to IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or sign-in directly

Welcome to IrishCentral!
Please provide the following information in order to create your account

Username:
E-Mail Address:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy


Welcome to IrishCentral!
All we need is the following information and you will be part of the #1 Irish community in the US

E-Mail Address:
First select a unique username:
Username:
Now choose a password:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Thank you!

Just one more step and you will be part of the largest Irish community in America! Tell us a little more about you to start enjoying all the features of IrishCentral.

Additional Information:

First Name:
Last Name:
Date of Birth:
Zip:
Gender: Male  Female 
Country:
Degree of Irishness:
Household Income:
Level of Education:

Subscribe to our newsletters:

The Best of IrishCentral - Daily Newsletter
Special Offers from our sponsors

or
Skip

You can edit your information at any time, just go to "my account" when you're logged in.

Log into IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or sign-in directly

E-Mail:
Password:
 Remember me Forgot my password