Oct4 Seve slates Harrington

Seve Ballesteros has laid into Open Champion Padraig Harrington for pulling out of last week’s lacklustre Seve Trophy in Ireland.

The Spanish legend – talking at the launch of his new DVD Seve’s Story – said Harrington had certain “responsibilities” as a Major winner.

Ballesteros said: “I want to send a message to Padraig Harrington and say that, really, he’s a great champion and I was disappointed that he did not play in the Seve Trophy. I want to tell him that if I, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam or Sandy Lyle did the same thing in the Ryder Cup, the Ryder Cup would never be as big as it is today.

“He is taking advantage of that right now. Golf is much bigger because of what we did and because of the Ryder Cup. When you are the Open champion, sometimes you have to do things you don’t really like ? you have certain obligations towards the game. Not just use the game, take the best from the game and never give back anything. That’s not fair.

“On the other hand, I have an admiration for Harrington. He deserved what he achieved because he really had the talent and really worked very hard. But he has to remember that when I was the best player in the world, I played in several tournaments on the European Tour for free. In the Seve Trophy, just to play on the team, you get big money.

“Unfortunately, and I’m sure he already knows it, he made a mistake,” Ballesteros said. “He let down me, he let down the Seve Trophy, he let down the people from Ireland, especially the people from the Dublin area.”

The fact there was no Irishman in Nick Faldo’s GB&I team  meant the crowd were well down on those expected, and Ballesteros said: “The crowd was low because there was a rugby match, because Padraig Harrington didn’t commit for the team and because not one Irish player was on the GB and Ireland team.”

Harrington, at the Dunhill Links Championship this weekend, responded to his comments with: “No comment.”