Padraig Harrington: Rory McIlroy is ‘as European as they come’ and will be a leader at 2020 Ryder Cup

McIlroy came under criticism last week for labelling the European Tour as a 'stepping stone'

Newly crowned Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington has insisted that Rory McIlroy “is as European as they come” and will be a leader in the dressing room when Europe travel to Whistling Straits to defend their trophy in 2020.

Harrington, who has been a vice-captain at the last three tournaments, was finally confirmed as Team Europe’s captain on Tuesday, after being unanimously backed by the players and the European Tour’s selection panel.

McIlroy, who was a leading figure in Thomas Bjorn’s winning dressing room at Le Golf National in September, came under scrutiny last week after labelling the European Tour as a “stepping stone” and stated that his home was now in the US.

Harrington, however, was quick to dismiss the suggestion that the four-time major champion’s loyalties were now in any way focused elsewhere.

“That man loves the Ryder Cup,” Harrington said. “He’s become a leader in the team room. The Ryder Cup, he gives so much to The Ryder Cup; The Ryder Cup gives so much back to Rory that he can’t get anywhere else. He is a leader. He’s 30 years of age and he gets to be a leader. He gets the glory, the opportunity to be loved on the golf course. He gets the exuberance, the crowd.

“His actions are all about the Ryder Cup. He will be 100% behind and in that Ryder Cup team. There’s no doubt about it.

“I know there’s words there but the actions don’t match up. He’s as European as they come. Yes, he’s moved to the States, his family’s there, he wants to win The Masters and those words are coming out but his actions are not that way at all. His actions are so European it’s not true.”

For the first time since his professional debut in 2007, McIlroy may forgo the five events required to retain his European Tour card this year and instead began his season at the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tour of Champions in Hawaii last week where he finished tied-fourth.

All but one – Thorbjorn Olesen – of the twelve members of Bjorn’s winning team in Paris play on the US-based PGA Tour and Francesco Molinari too has chosen to follow McIlroy’s suit this season and scale back on European commitments.

Harrington though claimed that he was not concerned by the continued power shift and simply wants the best twelve players at his disposal as he attempts to avoid a repeat of Europe’s damning 17-11 defeat at Hazeltine in 2016.

“I want the best team of 12 players that match up the best,” Harrington continued. ”I’m happy they are playing around the place but they are playing enough in Europe. They will come home and in their actions, if you saw the guys in the team room, how they interact with each other, how much they embrace the European Team, I have no fear, I will have the best team.”