Speedy greens the key to US success

Padraig Harrington believes Valhalla's lightning fast greens will heap more pressure on Nick Faldo to justify wildcards Ian Poulter and Paul Casey.

Unlike the Belfry in 2002, Oakland Hills in 2004 or the K Club two years ago, Harrington is expecting the greens in Kentucky to be super fast.

Bracing himself, Harrington explained: "Europe has won the last couple of years and every time we’ve won the greens have been European paced greens.

"When we lost in Brookline on the Sunday in '99 they changed the greens back from being European-paced to fast US-paced greens.

"We holed all the putts on the first two days and they holed all the putts on Sunday. Well, these greens are going to be super-quick this week."

And he knows that Valhalla's putting surfaces will be like skating rinks after finishing 58th in the 2000 PGA Championship there behind Tiger Woods.

Only four Europeans finished in the top 20 that week - Thomas Bjorn, Jose Maria Olazabal, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood - and Harrington is worried that Europe could be in trouble.

He said: "In 2000, they were the quickest greens. If you watch the playoff between Tiger and Bob May, they were like putting on top of a table so there will be a serious advantage there for the US players in terms of familiarity and it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

"That’s my little cut on why Europe has won and the US has lost. We’ve holed more putts because of the pace of the greens."

Faldo is under pressure to come home with the trophy after controversially picking Ian Poulter over Darren Clarke or Colin Montgomerie.

But he admires Poulter and Faldo for putting their heads on the block and hopes they can rise to the occasion.

Regarding Poulter, he said: "Well, he’s under pressure. It’s a tough position to be in and he knows that. The captain has put his neck on the line and Poulter has put his neck on the line. I admire people who want to be in those positions.

"At the end of the day, the captain will be judged on the success of the team. There have been captains in the past that we know have had successful teams who, from behind the scenes, had not been poor captains but have won and they get recognition as good captains.

"History will judge Faldo as captain with one question – did he win or did he lose? From a player’s perspective we have to believe right now that we’ve got the best team and the best players and work with that.

"Yes we were all surprised he didn't pick Darren because Darren looked like a perfect fit, looked like he would help Lee play well. He’s experience. I’ve said it many times in interviews before, that’s why you pick a captain. He has different opinions and you have to trust and go with your captain.

"I’m backing him 100 per cent as we are in the team mode. You don’t rock the boat."

With Tiger Woods out of action, Harrington's eye-popping victory in the US PGA proved that he is the best player in world under pressure.

The Dubliner is the highest ranked player on either side in the PGA Tour's putting statistics - ranked fifth compared to 14th ranked Justin Leonard.

Asked if that's why Faldo opted for Poulter and Casey, who play most of their golf in the US, Harrington said: "There you go, you’ve found an interesting reason just there."

The bads news is that while Casey's putting improved in the FedEx Cup, he is ranked 198th out of 203 player for putting on the PGA Tour with Poulter in the middle of the pack at 87th.