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Harrington to be named European Ryder Cup captain

Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Golf - European Tour - British Masters - Walton Heath Golf Club, Walton-on-the-Hill, Britain - October 12, 2018 Ireland's Padraig Harrington during the second round Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

Padraig Harrington will be announced next week as the captain for Europe's 2020 Ryder Cup team, according to multiple reports. The European Tour has called a press conference for Tuesday at its headquarters, where the three-time major champion will officially be named captain. Harrington will become the third Irish captain for Team Europe in the past four Ryder Cups. Denmark's Thomas Bjorn led Europe to a commanding victory over the United States at Le Golf National in Paris in September. The 2020 event will take place at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. Bjorn and the two previous captains, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley, are on a panel charged with determining the captain for the next team. Harrington has long been the leading candidate, especially with England's Lee Westwood announcing that he will wait until Rome in 2022 to put his name in the ring for the captaincy. Harrington, 47, played in six Ryder Cups - including four Team Europe victories - and has served as a vice captain in each of the three previous Ryder Cups. Harrington also announced this week that he will miss at least two events due to a broken wrist. He will be sidelined for the Abu Dhabi and Dubai events on the European Tour in January, with a goal to return in time for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am the second week of February. "Over the Christmas period I discovered that I had broken a bone in my wrist," Harrington announced on his website. "I had slipped whilst walking down the stairs at home in mid-December. "Whilst it continues to heal, I need to keep it in a splint a little while longer so, frustratingly, I will need to miss the first two planned events of my season in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. "However, I should be fully fit for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am on the PGA Tour in early February." Harrington finished 220th in the FedEx Cup standings last season, but has elected to use his one-time top-50 exemption for this season as he is currently 49th on the PGA Tour's career money list. --Field Level Media