Will Harrington be rated higher than Monty in the ATG lists ??

In years to come.....

Monty a great ryder cup player who dominated Europe but never won a Major....albeit coming close..

Harrington - Three majors but never really dominated and has a decent ryder record but nothing great...

Thing is Majors are considered the holy grail so even though it's probably wrong...I expect Harrington will be rated higher in the Alltime lists of the future!!.........

Yes, you're probably right. Thanks for the contribution.

Wouldn't be surprised if poddy did an els and grabbed a late 4th major at the open in the next 5-6 years.
Safe to say monty has had it.

3 Majors -- you know how rare that air is?

He's already a more accomplished professional golfer than Monty, IMO.

Your opinion is welcome...

What a difficult question.

Those of us who hold the Ryder Cup in high esteem will be reluctant to put Harrington ahead of Montgomerie.

Ironic that, to a certain (large in my mind) extent, Montgomerie's career in the US was undermined by a turncoat tosspot who wasn't fit to hold Monty's niblick.

But Majors is the ATG currency (until Finchem persuades that it should be FedEx prowess) and Harrington will be among the all-time top thirty while Montgomerie may struggle to reach the top fifty.

Who has had the better career is something open to much more debate - and is on here frequently - but as Kwini says, the only recognised currency for ATG lists is majors, so Paddy clearly will be rated higher in the history books. Rightly or wrongly.

Monty had umpteen starts in these United States and could never get a victory. This after he had umpteen starts in Europe and mopped up OoM after OoM. Paddy, on the other hand, has won bigger tournaments than Monty ever has - both here and in Europe. Game, set and match IMO.

Yes, well, he won a (admittedly unofficial) match play, plus was an important member of two winning Ryder Cup teams here.
If he had thick enough skin to deal with the nonsense thrown at him by the failed opera singer, Miller and others, who knows.

But, as we said, it's the Majors stupid.

Completely understand you discount ET success - probably their RC wins also.

Well, in the Monty v Paddy comparison I certainly don't give too much weight Monty's Euro success. Not surprisingly, he never even won the biggest event in Euro golf, where he had all the home field support he could have hoped for. Paddy, on the other hand, could put a magnum's worth of claret in the hardware he collected in just that event. And with Els and Clarke winning, I don't think Paddy's even done yet at the Open. Monty I am sure is done.

RC a different story. Too bad for Monty team golf isn't an every week event.

Forgive me, but just who's all time greats list would those two make and how long would such a list have to be?

It's a bit unfair to have a go at Monty's American record. The reason for this is because 99% of European golfers belonged to the European Tour at that time and lived in Europe. Not permanently domiciled in ghastly Floridian estates and fulltime PGA members as they are now.
During Monty's time at the top you could probably count the number of European Winners on the PGA on a couple of fingers. Monty was no different from almost every Euro player at that time.

Paddy played at a far different time when circumstances were so different.

In terms of greatness Harrington > Monty due to Major wins. However Monty was the better golfer i.e. consistently higher world ranking over his career and more dominant in Europe.

incontinentia wrote:In terms of greatness Harrington > Monty due to Major wins. However Monty was the better golfer i.e. consistently higher world ranking over his career and more dominant in Europe.

I'm not sure I'd agree with the bit highlighted. I'm only guessing but I would say their average world ranking over their careers would be very similar. I would also say that Padraig has been above Monty in the world rankings pretty much permanently since 2002.

Super - You have a point about European players playing less in the US in Monty's time. Back in the 80s when Seve was No 1, there was a definite sense that he wasn't really welcome on the PGA Tour. I think Rory has already won as many times in the US as both Seve & Faldo did in their entire careers. Does that mean Rory is far ahead of those two? Definitely not in my opinion.

I still think Monty's dominance in Europe in the 90s was because his peak came in the gap between the greats of the 80s and early 90s and the real resurgence in European golf over the past decade. He would have been a top player in any era but he wouldn't have been as dominant in an era with more competition. I think Padraig Harrington was only outside the top 3 on the Order of Merit once from 2001 to 2008 inclusive. To me, that is almost as good an achievement as Monty's domination from 1993-1999.

Back in the day....Langer, Lyle, Woosnam, Faldo x6 and Ballesteros x5

all seemed to manage to win...

Monty conservatively had what, 60 starts in majors (ages 25 to 40)? He's O-Fer. In those same 60 or so starts Paddy wins 3. To suggest that Monty could have won more in the US had he played more in the US is, IMO, unfounded. He had plenty of starts and nothing to show for it. A Euro beater yes, a US beater --- certainly in Ryder Cup, but not when he's flying solo. Monty defenders say funny things sometimes.