This will be the 53-year-old's 28th Irish Open appearance
Padraig Harrington believes he has the answer to the question of what to do about Europe's LIV rebels such as Jon Rahm and Tyrrell and their Ryder Cup involvement. Former team captain Harrington wants to see both play in next year's trip to Bethpage Black to face the United States.
But he also wants to see the rules adhered to - and that means Rahm and Tyrrell have to play in four DP World Tour sanctioned events. READ MORE: Shane Lowry and Irish company 'mutually agree' to end relationship following damning Grenfell findingsThe Dubliner believes he has an answer. "I'd suggest that every PGA Tour and the European Tour event should have four invites for LIV players, and every LIV event should have four invites for an International team," said Harrington. "That way we have enough crossover that we can get Jon Rahm to play the European Tour and we get Abraham Ancer to play the Mexican Open. "If four PGA Tour guys come over, it's not like they're going to be welcomed with open arms - so that creates buzz at their events. If we had four LIV players this week, people would be focused on them. Some people would be wanting them to do well and some people would be wanting them to do badly. "But that would create a bit of a buzz and vice versa, if four PGA Tour players or four international players turned up at a LIV event, they wouldn't want that team winning, they wouldn't want the outsiders, so that creates a bit of a buzz for them. That's the only solution I see in golfing." Harrington doesn't envisage the PGA Tour stars pencilling 10 or more events in a proposed combined world tour with their LIV rivals. So he predicts that the two Tours won't merge and he knows that is what both Tours are struggling with in their negotiations. "But maybe having an invite , and nobody has to like each other," Harrington mused. "It's good for sport when you have rivalries, and we've seen it at the majors this year. "The majors have never been better because of those rivalries, so why couldn't we have that this week? I'm sure Tyrrell playing two weeks ago at the British Masters created a big buzz. "There will be a lot of home fans wanting him to do well and then there's plenty of people that didn't want him to do well. In the right context, that's good. That's my solution. I'm not sitting at the top table. That's why I'm sitting in the media centre telling you my solution!". As for his own chances this week at Royal County Down, the 53-year-old admitted he got a "rude awakening" in Portrush on Tuesday as he practised in poor weather conditions. But he has been in links mode over the past week or so, playing rounds with his sons at the European Club and Portmarnock, plus that trip to Portrush. "Right now it's nothing to do with being a great swinger of the golf club or ball-striker," he said, with rainy conditions expected for what is his 28th Irish Open appearance. "It's full-on 100% course management. You've got to make the right decisions at the right time. You've got to work your way around the golf course, challenge where you need to challenge and be patient where you have to be. You can't do one thing all the time. "Some of that's instinctive and I've taken some solace. I don't feel like I've played great the last couple of days. I'm finding the golf course tough, and you know, as my caddie keeps saying, if you're finding the conditions tough, how do the rest of them think about it? "I'm taking some solace from the fact that everybody is finding it difficult this week. In these conditions, it's very, very difficult. But it all depends on what we get in the week and the setup."
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