CHARLIE MULQUEEN: Patience pays for McGinley

Never do things in a hurry.

That has been the motto of Europe’s new Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley since his days as a student at Coláiste Éanna on Dublin’s south side. Although small in stature, he was a handy gaelic footballer who cared little about golf, except when he nipped over to the Grange club and earned some pocket money caddying for his dad, Mick, a championship standard single figure handicapper.

He also played club football for Ballyboden St Enda’s and on leaving school moved on to UCD where he spent three years studying and figuring out what to do next with his life. Gaelic football was his chief source of leisure and relaxation and when he suffered a serious knee injury even that was ruled out of the question. And that’s how golf entered the equation.