GOLF:Pádraig Harrington tells PHILIP REIDhe would have picked Tiger Woods for the Ryder Cup because he's the world's number one player

ALTHOUGH ON opposing teams in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in just under a fortnight’s time, Pádraig Harrington believes he will share a common bond with world number one Tiger Woods.

The two players required wild card picks from their respective captains, Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin, and – in a season which only served up disappointment for the duo in the four Major championships – the Dubliner is convinced this match will provide “the pinnacle” of their year.

Asked yesterday if he felt Woods, who missed a substantial part of the season due to the fall-out from revelations about marital infidelities, deserved a captain’s pick from Pavin, Harrington responded: “Yes – 100 per cent, 100 per cent. He is the number one player in the world still, by the rankings, and he has shown decent form (of late) . . . I would have picked him.

“I think he might feel a bit like me, ‘what do you need me to do?’, because getting a pick, you are not as focused on yourself, you are much more focused on the team.

“He is coming into this Ryder Cup not having achieved a lot of his goals. He is coming in thinking, ‘I want to play well in this Ryder Cup to make me have a successful year’. So, in many ways, this Ryder Cup could be the pinnacle of this year, just as it could be for me.

“He will be in fighting mood for the week, in a mood to perform. And I definitely see myself at the last Ryder Cup (in Valhalla in 2008) having been burned out whereas Tiger is not going to be that way and I am not going to be that way this time.”

Harrington, who only mustered a half-point at Valhalla where he admitted to being “flat” after winning back-to-back Majors in the British Open and the US PGA in the run-up to the last Ryder Cup, is due to return to competitive action at next week’s Vivendi Cup in Paris after missing out on the final two legs of the FedEx Cup on the US Tour.

In fact, Harrington has had his coach, Bob Torrance, over to Dublin this week to work on his game with the objective of being sharp come the match. “I’m going to use France very much as a get ready for the following week and, hopefully, by the end of France, it is not a question of going to Celtic Manor looking for something, that’s it’s going there and taking what you have with you.”

Of failing to qualify automatically for the team, and being forced to rely on a pick from Montgomerie, Harrington admitted he had made “an awful mess” of his schedule, but added: “I am hoping for the Ryder Cup to be my peak this year.

“There is a sense of expectation but pressure brings more focus and more adrenaline. It is a long week, so there is nothing I am more excited about than having that bit extra in the tank.

“It is definitely different this time, getting a pick. It is very easy to qualify for the Ryder Cup team and think you have done your job, whereas playing well in the Ryder Cup is the main goal, not qualifying for it.

“I was flat the last match, there is no doubt. But whatever happens this time, I don’t think I am going to be flat during the week of the Ryder Cup.”