McGinley’s melancholy

FAR more than a golf tournament and lots of money were at stake at Wentworth yesterday when the BMW PGA Championship eventually went to a worthy winner in 35 year-old Argentinian Angel Cabrera.

He held off the challenge of Ireland’s Paul McGinley, who finished second to claim a prize of €444,440, jump comfortably into the world’s top 50 and accordingly qualify for the US Open at Pinehurst from June 16.

He is also up to seventh in the European Tour money list with €680,468.

And yet McGinley was one of the saddest people in Wentworth last night, and not because he had been unable to cling on to the one shot lead he enjoyed over Cabrera after he had picked up his sixth birdie of the day at the 12th.

In truth, it has been a hugely emotional weekend for the Irish golfers, and especially those close to Darren and Heather Clarke. Darren pulled out of the tournament on Saturday morning because Heather remains in the nearby Cromwell Hospital, seriously ill after a procedure to alleviate the problems caused by cancer. The Clarke and McGinley families are very close and have been in constant contact over the past week, though Paul was not using the situation as an excuse for his failure to finish off the job on the golf course.

“It was a good effort but not good enough at the end of the day”, he said. “Cabrera has obviously played fantastic, I thought I played fantastic, I was just beaten by somebody who played better with a two shot advantage starting out. I lost it because I didn’t have a better score on Saturday. I’m very disappointed not to have won because I only had one intention this week and that was winning. It would have been a big title for me.”

McGinley played the Burma Road at its trickiest in rounds of 72, 64, 72 and 67 for a 13 under par total, but wayward drives cost him shots at the 16th and 17th. Those lapses certainly removed the pressure from Cabrera who was able to cruise through the closing holes and still finish in 67 for a 15 under total of 273 and the first prize cheque for €666,660.

It was the biggest win of his career and his third on the European Tour and also his fourth top six finish in the Championship since 1997. Long, accurate striking has always been the key part of his game and has allowed him to boost his career earnings in Europe to more than 7m, the 17th player to do so.

For McGinley, there were many positives but they weren’t immediately apparent to the player himself. “I had the momentum but Cabrera stuck with me. I never got away from him, if I did, it was only by a shot. All credit to him, he’s played better.”

It was then that the depth of his feelings broke through as he stressed with breaking voice that everything should be put in context.

“It’s been a pretty emotional few days to say the least. Of course I was thinking of Heather out there and found it very difficult to concentrate at times. My wife Ally and Heather are very good friends, the children are in the same class at school and, of course, I’m very close to Darren. It just tears the heart out of you to see what they’re going through. I really thought I was going to win this for her today. It just wasn’t to be, I played well, Angel’s played better, and it’s his week.”

Choking back the tears, McGinley stressed that Heather Clarke “is a fighter” and left it at that. Still, at that moment it must have seemed an eon since he played the outward nine over the Burma Road in 30 shots with birdies at the 3rd (30 foot putt), 4th (five feet), 5th and 6th (20 feet each) and four feet on eight. At that point he was one ahead of Cabrera, playing in the match immediately behind. He maintained the pressure with a 305 yards drive at the 12th which paved the way for birdie number six.

At this point, though, there were signs the pressure was telling as McGinley was forced to save par from sand at both the 11th and 13th. And there was no reprieve when he found two bunkers at the 16th to open the door for Cabrera, who had himself birdied both the 11th and 12th. The gap was then two, it became three when the Irishman crashed his drive at the 17th into the woods, running up a second successive bogey. He did make a comfortable birdie at the 18th but it was too little too late.

“It’s really the very best moment of my life winning the second biggest tournament in Europe after the British Open”, said Cabrera, whose English isn’t the most fluent. “I like this golf course very much and that’s probably why I play well here. I was two times very close and fortunately this time when I had my chance, I was able to take it.”