European Ryder Cup captain Colm Montgomerie says Padraig Harrington will be his  key team leader for this week’s Ryder Cup.

"I want him and Lee Westwood to be my team leaders, if you like. They are my major players and I look forward to having Padraig in that role," Montgomerie went on.

Referring to Harrignton’s improved form in Paris last weekend  where he shot a sensational last round Monty said "It was very important for Padraig to make the cut, for one," "Then to shoot seven birdies and an eagle on Sunday, I thought that was tremendous.

"You know, he went from 40th place to finishing just one shot off third. I think that was most important for him and for the team.

"Padraig flew back to Dublin, dropped off his brothers (Fergal and Tadhg), picked up his wife Caroline and came here," Montgomerie said, adding: "And in the past 18 months, I've not seen him as happy as he was on arrival on Sunday night."

Harrington (39) insisted he was ready and his form was not in a slump.

"My game was never broken," he insisted. "I'm just going to keep working on the same things I worked on last week. I didn't putt very well on the first two days in Paris, so I worked on that and putted lovely on the last two days.

"The ball was coming out very nicely on line and I'm continuing to work on that. That's where my main focus will be, because there's not a huge amount I need to do on my swing.

"Hopefully I'm peaking just at the right time. That'd be nice. There's nothing like making a few birdies to give your confidence a timely boost, and hopefully I can carry that through to this week.

"Last week was good preparation for match-play golf, because you had to keep chasing birdies on that course. So I'm glad the tournament was played on that course, and I'm glad it was a low-scoring week where you had to try and go after every shot."

He said: "In match play, I need to be more aggressive -- that's certainly a failing I've had in the last few years. Hopefully I can get the balance right this week."