HORIZON IRISH OPEN

July 1, 2022

Padraig Harrington

Mount Juliet Estate

Quick Quotes

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON: The sanctions are harder for the PGA TOUR. They say in Europe -- Europe should not be as tough at the PGA TOUR. I don't understand, like as far as the guys on the ground in Europe, they think the sanctions should have been harder. They think they should have been as hard as the PGA TOUR.

The PGA TOUR have actually given the players away back if they want to come back and there are some players who win their first event, it really gives them the option, let's face it, the sanctions were extremely light. So players could come back after that first event no problem. I think it's going to get harder and harder for players to come back but I'm surprised they are surprised.

It's only a two-week ban. It's the simplest ban ever. Two weeks, they got.

Q. So the 16 players in that letter, that open letter said if you do not rescind the ban, the fines by 5:00, this evening, you will leave us with no choice but to ex-ploy the various other means and methods at our disposal to rectify these wrongs. What do you think that sounds like?

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON: Well, it sounds like it's old news. I thought this was the pathway everybody knew for the last six months. That if they go -- they are not lawyers threatening and all this forages.

Q. But now the fines have actually been imposed and they responded and they responded as a united group and they said basically they are saying, if you don't take the fines away, we are going to do something about it in response. So that's today's breaking story?

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON: That's a lawyer -- I'm shocked this is new news. I thought this was pretty standard stuff, the pathway forward was straightforward; that if they go, they would be banned which they weren't and then they would get -- the lawyers would get involved and then we talk about injunctions and all that.

As I keep saying, the majors are above the tours. The majors should be sacrosanct, and the best players should be allowed to play in the majors. I don't know why these players want to play in Europe. As in they have the Asian to go in, and the World Ranking in Asia if they want to go there. The Asian Tour events are four and five million, great.

As I said I have no problem with these guys going there but I'm surprised they are interested in coming back here when they have a pathway with Asia, there's plenty of tournaments. I really do think this is old news.

Q. The statement from those players also says that they believe that this arrangement, the alliance strengthening the DP World Tour leaves the DP World Tour as the little brother, very much in the lead of the PGA TOUR. Obviously the did you understand that have come out swinging against that. Would you agree with that?

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON: Honestly as the DP World come out swinging against that because we all know we are the little brother of the PGA TOUR. The PGA TOUR is colossal, they are a mammoth. They are the big ones. We have tied up with them, which we haven't been in a position to compete with them.

Look, I would have loved, you know, over the last 20 years for the DP World to be a fair competitor to the PGA TOUR but if you look over the last five, six years, very few players have been playing in Europe, so yeah, I think we are the little brother. You know, some kind of independent but the PGA TOUR is the biggest and brightest. You can't think that. We can't think we don't know that. It would be nice if we had certain periods in Europe where we are dominant. There's certainly room for two big tours. Is there room for three big tours, I don't know, going forward.

But as I said, the new tour has only pushed things on. There's no doubt that the PGA TOUR and the European Tour have offered more to the players based on the fact based on the fact that there's competition out there from LIV.

Q. The phrase used was "second fiddle" to the PGA TOUR.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON: And is there something new about this? Like if anything, the last number of years, I would have said the PGA TOUR was far too dominant. I think they have given up something now for the support of the DP World Tour. Way too dominant if you ask me for the last number of years and Europe was struggling because of that.

The fact they don't -- I don't know how it's going to play out, but I see they have given a little bit to Europe which they needed to do so that Europe can be seen as a place that if a player doesn't want to travel to the States can play, a player where somebody can stay longer and mature in their game.

So I think they have given a little bit back to Europe at the moment, which is good. You know, they were very dominant.