Harrington to rely on three wildcards for 2020 Ryder Cup

European captain Padraig Harrington has opted for three wild cards instead of four for next year’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.

Nine players will qualify automatically for the team via points earned in tournaments starting with the 2019 BMW PGA Championship and ending at the same event in September 2020.

Harrington will then select three wild cards to complete the team which will defend the trophy won in comprehensive fashion in Paris last year.

The three-time major winner said: “I have said on many occasions that one of the reasons for recent European success in the Ryder Cup is continuity. It is a theme that will be prevalent across my captaincy and I think you can see that in the overall qualification process for the 2020 team.

“Having said that, I am pleased that the (European Tour) tournament committee agreed to the change of wild card numbers. I have spoken to a number of people regarding the ninth player automatically qualifying for the team and, in my experience, a player is more comfortable when he has qualified, hence my reasoning behind this change.

Thomas Bjorn, 2018 captain, used his wildcards to bring experienced players Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson into the team. Garcia became the Ryder Cup’s leading points scorer at Le Golf National in France, while Poulter beat Dustin Johnson to help Europe reclaim the trophy.

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