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Harrington reveals tension with Garcia

Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Josh Antmann
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Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington

Three time major winner Padraig Harrington has publicised the strange relationship he has with fellow Ryder Cup team mate Sergio Garcia.

The European pair have rocketed up the world rankings in 2008, with Garcia at number two and Harrington just trailing at number four.

Although the world rankings don’t lie, Harrington has edged out Garcia in last year’s Open, and then followed that up with a comparable performance at the USPGA Championship.

It seems the tense rivalry that the two players have had has boiled over and strained their relationship

But Harrington describes him and Garcia as having, “zero in common, bar the fact that we both play golf. He is the antithesis of me, and I am the antithesis of him.”

"We play the game in exactly the opposite way. He is destined to find the long game easy and the short game hard, and I am the opposite.

"I think in the hearts and minds of a lot of people Garcia would have been number one, while I have been ranked number one. As you can imagine, no quarter is given.

"It is not as if we have ever had a row or a run-in. I have had plenty of run-ins with people and we would be friends but [with Garcia] it is just, well, we are so much the opposite of each other."

Harrington is vying for his third major in succession, and the spotlight is sure to be on him. But the return of Tiger Woods is sure to take some of that pressure off the Irishman. "It will be the hardest event to win in my whole life simply because of the expectations that will be there," he added.

"Thankfully, Tiger is coming back and he will be the big focus of the week. But still there will be a huge amount of pressure on me."