Irish eyes on McGinley in Ryder Cup’s last-chance saloon
He didn’t ask was I covering the BMW International starting here today or if we were concentrating on the leading Irish duo, Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke, or our other challengers for the €200,000 first prize, Graeme McDowell, Peter Lawrie, Gary Murphy and Damien McGrane.
No, the focus of all Irish attention this week is on 37-year-old Dubliner Paul McGinley, the hero of Europe’s success two years ago at The Belfry and now so desperate to retain his place at Oakland Hills, Detroit, Michigan, on September 17-19, he is facing into his 13th tournament in 14 weeks and his 10th in succession.
In doing so, he has criss-crossed the world, mixed the brilliant (6th in the US PGA Championship, 2nd in the KLM Dutch Open) with the moderate (45th in last week’s NEC World Championship) and left his wife and children to fend for themselves at home in Sunningdale.
It hasn’t been easy and while the ever cheerful McGinley denies it, there can be little doubt that all the competition, travel, homesickness and other incidentals (like the loss of his luggage twice in three weeks by British Airways!) have taken their toll. His failure to put the Ryder Cup spot beyond doubt last week is evidence of that salient fact. With Ian Poulter and David Howell, the pair ahead of him in the points race, among the absentees, he had a glorious chance to slam the door in their faces.
In his own words, “I tried like hell”, but it didn’t happen. He stayed in the precarious 10th and last automatic spot. McGinley travelled to Munich on Sunday night from Ohio and has combined a few practice rounds and spells on the range with getting as much rest as possible in the past few days. He should be reasonably refreshed at the first tee at 9.35am today.
“I don’t want the use of a calculator this week,” said McGinley, who is trying to keep things low key.
“I have a rough idea of what I need to do but I don’t want to be worrying about everybody else. I will play as hard as I can and see where the cards fall. My focus must be on what Paul McGinley does and not anyone else. There is a lot of pressure on me and I’d be lying if I suggested otherwise.
“But the pressure isn’t any greater than it was when I stood over that putt to win the Ryder Cup two years ago. I have my Ryder Cup destiny in my own hands and the better I play the harder it will be for the others.”
Paul knows the course at Munchen Nord-Eichenried, having played there for most of the past decade. That doesn’t mean he likes the place. As one with a deep interest in course architecture - a desire to create a world-class links in Co Donegal has been frustrated by planning difficulties - he won’t be taken by the electricity pylons that run through the back nine and the generally flat, uninspiring terrain. Nord-Eichenried measures a decent 6,943 yards with a predictable par of 72 but it is light years away from Whistling Straits, the venue for the PGA, and Firestone, home of the PGA.
Whereas par was a respectable score at both US courses, this week will be a veritable birdie-fest and consequently not favourable to McGinley, at his best when it takes hard work and a strong mindset to grind out a score.
Anybody could win on this course over the next few days - and that includes many of those on McGinley’s heels, like Frenchman Jeff Remesy, Swedes Joakim Haeggman and Fredrik Jacobsson, German Alex Cejka (runner-up 12 months ago), maybe even Graeme McDowell and the ever controversial Colin Montgomerie.
Padraig Harrington was one of his fellow passengers on Sunday night and reminded McGinley of how the course has suited him in the past five years. In 1999 Harrington holed a pressure-laden six foot putt on the 18th to clinch his first Ryder Cup place. And he got up and down for another par in 2001 to clinch second.
A happy omen perhaps?
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