Dubliner Padraig Harrington has compared the Ryder Cup to a rollercoaster ride - not much fun while you're on it but you think it's great fun once you get off. Harrington experienced his first taste of Ryder Cup golf in the 1999 event at Brookline where he made his debut. All three of his matches that year were decided on the final green and the Dubliner remembers only too well the pressure each golfer faces, despite it being a team event.
"It's like going on a rollercoaster," explained Harrington. "When you're actually on the rollercoaster it's not much fun, but when you get off you think it's fun. The week after the last Ryder Cup I never wanted to play in it again. But three months later I thought I liked the Ryder Cup and wanted to play another one."
"You know that when you play the Ryder Cup that there's probably nothing as intense or really as exciting for somebody like me to do. I would have to take up some weird sport in order to get that sort of adrenalin rush as you get here. It's great to that extent, but it's not enjoyable - enjoyable is going to the movies. With the Ryder Cup a certain amount of pressure stays the whole week, even the practice rounds. In tournaments you only feel pressure on the last nine holes, but at the Ryder Cup it's there all week, that's why it's so intense," he added.
Harrington also admitted that the pressure on him will be much greater this time around as he is no longer a Ryder Cup rookie and he has also proved himself at the highest level.
"It's easier as a rookie," he said. "As a rookie you are keeping your head down and just trying to go about your business. When there are expectations, you have to try, in your own head, to get away from those and make an effort to concentrate on your own game and not let it go to your head. As a rookie you are under a different pressure, but this pressure you are trying to play down, just so you can perform to the best of your abilities and try not to go out there and over-perform."
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
