Appearing as one of Ryan Tubridy’s guests on The Late Late Show on Friday night, Padraig Harrington was asked about the LIV Golf League, with the three-time Major winner revealing that he turned down an informal approach to join the league, with Harrington claiming that his friends who had joined LIV still remain friends.
“If I can get you to play golf when you retire, I can get anyone to play golf”Lovely gesture from Padraig Harrington on the Late Late last night!pic.twitter.com/PsyKfkNZY7April 22, 2023
“I got a text message but I didn’t want the temptation. If somebody comes around and offers you a hundred million, five hundred million, that’s a lot of temptation. It’s a lot of temptation and I didn’t want it. Sometimes you just don’t need it”, revealed Harrington.
He went on to add “I’m not going, but I’ve lots of friends who went and they’re still my friends. I can see why people would go and I can see the good of it in terms of inclusion if things change. Some of the guys have gone for free, but there’s a lot of prize money. Whether they should go or not is up to the individuals – some of the guys who’ve gone wouldn’t have been in good financial situations.
“I wouldn’t want to live in Saudi Arabia as it is now, but I do believe inclusion changes things. The more international inclusion of Saudi Arabia, the more the people will go, ‘you know what – we want to change things.’ It’s not that long ago here we used to put pregnant women in mother and baby homes. 1996 was when the last of them closed so we’re not that far away from it.”
Harrington is set to be an inductee of the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2024
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Back in September, Harrington said that LIV Golf players should be allowed to play in Majors, with the 51-year-old telling The Times (opens in new tab) that protecting the Majors should be paramount.
At the time, he said: “I have a lot of friends who have gone to LIV and I don’t want to throw them under the bus. Nobody is paying me to support LIV and the PGA is my bread and butter. I strongly believe the Majors should stay above everything.”
Now, just over six months later, Harrington has backed up the claims with the Irishman stating that: “I also see that the competition for the PGA Tour has turned out to be very good. Everybody tuned in to the Masters to the LIV and PGA players.”
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