Mental fatigue may have caused Padraig Harrington to miss the cut at The Barclays tournament but this year's double major winner will be firing on all cylinders once the Ryder Cup gets under way at Valhalla.

Harrington's premature departure from the opening FedEx Cup event at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey should not have come as too much of a surprise given his exploits in the previous five weeks.

First there was the Irishman's successful defence of his Open Championship title at Royal Birkdale and he followed that three weeks later by landing the US PGA Championship, emerging from a final-day duel with Sergio Garcia as a two-stroke victor, as the Spaniard tied for second place with American Ben Curtis at Oakland Hills.

By the time they get to Valhalla Golf Course near Louisville, Kentucky, Garcia and Harrington will be team-mates, Curtis will be in the enemy camp and the Ryder Cup atmosphere will have completely taken over, the Dubliner said.

``We are competitors on the golf course and in many ways we would be rivals on the golf course, but it all changes for some reason the week of the Ryder Cup,'' Harrington said.

``We all pull together in Europe. There are many guys that make up a team, and yet often there are guys on that team that you might not have had dealings with or that speak a different language or struggle with English, but for the whole week, there is a bond there.

``It's an amazing feeling that week and an amazing tournament that it creates that.''

Harrington, having already played in five of the matches, still struggles to pinpoint why the Ryder Cup has such a galvanising effect on the Europeans.

``It's hard to explain how well the team gels together. You've got to remember, all 12 of us compete against each other all the time during the year, and some of the guys are competing tooth-and-nail to get onto the team with other guys. There's a lot of competition there.

Shaking

``But when we come on Monday, it really is a big team. It all works very well.'' Only for one week, though; a point that amuses Harrington.

``You know, as I always say, the interesting thing about the Ryder Cup is the Monday after the Ryder Cup, you might go to another tournament, and then when you meet a team-mate, there will be hugs on the practice tee, how is it going?

``The following week, you meet your team-mate, it's high fives on the practice tee; and the following week, it's shaking hands on the practice tee; and the following week it's a wave; and the following week, it's the head down and keep going,'' he said with a laugh.

``You know, that's what the Ryder Cup does. It just generates that team bonding, I suppose, and it works incredibly well the week of the tournament.''

Harrington's first major win of the year, his three-stroke victory over Ian Poulter at Royal Birkdale, afforded him the luxury of automatic selection to Nick Faldo's team for Valhalla by midsummer and he said he was enjoying the view from the top of the world points list as his potential team-mates scrambled for a place on the European side.

``It's great fun,'' he said. ``It's great fun watching the guys sweat to get into the team when you're not one of them.

``It's a lot better than the other way around. I think I went about six weeks without looking at that Ryder Cup table. Now I look at it every day, and go `ooh, have a look at that'.''

Harrington believes the American captain Paul Azinger has an advantage going into Valhalla in that he had four captain's picks at his disposal as opposed to Faldo's two.

``I think the US team having four picks is a big plus and they will be able to pick more experienced players, guys who are more dependable, guys who are used to the situation, guys who are more intimidating in terms of their first-tee presence, guys who have won majors and know what it's all about.

``So I think the US team will be stronger this year than it has ever been because of that.''

Those words may be part of the inevitable mind games that ratchet up the tension at Ryder Cups, particularly as the European team will bid for their fourth victory in succession with the season's back-to-back major winner front and centre in Kentucky. Harrington, though, knows what makes the European side tick.

``Hopefully Europe will be the underdogs going in and we can rise to the occasion. That's what we always play for anyways, try and get ourselves into a position that we're motivated and play above ourselves.''

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