Paddy Calls The Calls To Change Ryder Cup Criteria "Silly"

They were slow out of the gate following the shellacking at Hazeltine, but now we have the Euros on the verge of bickering amongst themselves and maybe even having a race for the Captaincy. All just in time for the holiday season!

Brian Keogh reports that Padraig Harrington is refuting Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood's "silly" suggestion for just taking the top 12-ranked players for the European team.

“Just because we lost the last one and the US have changed their criteria doesn’t mean we should change ours. Ours was working just fine.”

Harrington is not in favour of big changes to the European system which compiles it’s team by selecting “the leading four Members on The Ryder Cup European Points List”, five from Ryder Cup World Points List and three captain’s picks.

“I would change the [final qualifying cut off] date and push it back two weeks. It’s just a little early, a month before it,” he said of a system that requires players to play just five European Tour events apart from the four Majors and the three World Golf Championships with the Ryder Cup and the Olympic Games both counting.