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Harrington feels future Ryder...

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Harrington feels future Ryder Cups could be played on a 'neutral set-up'


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Europe's Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington believes the Ryder Cup could be based on a "neutral set-up" in the future rather than being suited for the home side.

The Irish man will lead Europe's defence at Whistling Straits next September, having acted as a vice-captain during their victory in Paris last year.

Harrington thinks the current tradition of Ryder Cup courses being set up to favour the hosts may eventually change:

“There is a substantial difference, I would advocate even too much of a difference, between home and away.

“Clearly in Europe, we get to set the golf course up, and we set it up in every way we can to suit our players, and in the States, we have seen that as well, where it is set up to be the most advantageous for the home team.

"It is not going to happen probably in my lifetime, but 40 or 50 years down the road with the Ryder Cup still going along, it would probably be best to have a neutral set-up where there is no setting up a golf course as we did in Europe so that it was very tight off the tee and it made it a real difficult, where par was a good score.

“Whereas, if you went back to Hazeltine, it was more of a birdie-fest where the statisticians get involved and tell us what suits each team.

“Thankfully here at Whistling Straits this is a much more natural golf course and I am interested to see what Steve has in store, but it does not look like you can do a lot with this golf course.

“Even the weather could be very changeable the week of the Ryder Cup next year. So in many ways, this is a golf course that is just going to test the players on its own merits.”


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