GOLF

Padraig Harrington says LIV players should be allowed to play majors

Harrington believes the majors “need to say, ‘We’re above all this’ ”
Harrington believes the majors “need to say, ‘We’re above all this’ ”
JORGE LEMUS/NURPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK

Padraig Harrington will have friends on both sides of the faultline when golf’s international power struggle gets shoved into the locker room at Wentworth next week. He has “no skin in the game” but ahead of the anticipated friction at the BMW PGA Championship, he is adamant that LIV golfers should not be banned from majors.

The three-time major champion, 51, says that if the LIV golfers in the field for the DP World Tour’s flagship event were able to get world ranking points elsewhere then he would be protesting against their presence. But he sees comparisons with cricket’s Indian Premier League, whose original incarnation in 2007 led to bans for rebels and increased prize money in existing tournaments as a deterrent. “In the end