Boost for McGinley's Ryder Cup prospects
Having got himself to six under par with an outward nine of 32 on Saturday, only to slip back to three under at the end of the day, McGinley could have been excused if he became just a little downhearted.
But instead he came out fighting again yesterday and was well entitled to feel "chuffed and proud" at shooting such a low round over an extremely difficult golf course. From here he moves on to the $6.75 million NEC World Championship beginning in Akron, Ohio, on Thursday and from there to the decisive BMW International in Munich a week later. Having also finished second in the recent Dutch Open and in the top ten in the Irish Open at Baltray, his current form surely entitles him to serious consideration for one of Bernhard Langer's two "wild cards" if he fails to gain an automatic place.
"I'm thrilled to bits," said McGinley. "There was a lot of pressure on me. Everybody knows what's at stake. I desperately want to be in that team. I know there's a lot of work to do and a lot of catching up to do still but it's two six-figure cheques in a row and that's what you need to do to play in the Ryder Cup.
"I played really well at the weekend. You don't get around here by playing bad golf."
McGinley is a millionaire by a comfortable distance from his exploits on the golf courses of the world but he has never gotten ahead of himself and has an interesting and sympathetic way of discussing the pressures of everyday life. "Making the Ryder Cup team is not a negative pressure," he insisted. "Guys out struggling to pay the mortgage and keep their kids in school - that's pressure. A nice pressure to be under is when you're at the pinnacle of your sport and trying to make one of the premier teams in golf. There's a lot of adrenalin running around in my body over the past eight or nine weeks. The important thing now is that I don't burn myself out. I only got the invitation to come here last week thanks to improving from 102nd to a share of 100th in the world rankings. I'm physically fitter now than at any time in my career. I'm hitting it further than ever and I've got the bit between my teeth and I don't want to let go. Results breed confidence. I've had a few good results since the Irish Open. That 66 in the third round at Baltray gave me a huge boost momentum wise and I've played really well since then. Because of my knee injury, I've been doing different exercises in the gym as opposed to lifting heavy weights and as a result I'm hitting the ball a long way. I wouldn't like to be coming out on tour now as a short hitter."
Going on to add that he was "proud" of how he brought in a 69 when so much counted on it and on such a tough golf course, McGinley added: "You shoot 69 in a major on the last day and you jump up quite a few spots. It was very bunched where I was starting out. Two shots either way were going to get you top ten or 45th and the breakdown in America.
"Shoot 73, 74 today and I was going to back-pedal a lot. I'm obviously pleased to have shot that score and jumped the right way but the job is not finished yet. I've a long way to go. I'm not dismissing a wild card, but I don't want to go down that road mentally. I can't tell what Bernhard Langer is going to do." Otherwise, it was a very disappointing day for the Irish, with first-round leader Darren Clarke losing his focus and dropping back to six under par after 10, having been in touch with the leaders starting out the day.
Pádraig Harrington was surprisingly inconsistent through the four days and a fifth bogey of the day at the 14th pushed him back to three under with four to play. Tiger Woods was never a factor but he slept a tad easier last night given that he has now stretched his "ownership" of the game's number one spot to 332 successive weeks, beating the previous best mark set by Greg Norman. Woods was assured of keeping his lead once he made the cut on Friday and Ernie Els dropped out of contention early in yesterday's final round. But he is living dangerously for all that and it looks pretty certain that he will overtaken by Els or Vijay Singh in the very near future. He could do no better yesterday than 73 for a two under par total of 286.
Todd Hamilton, the shock winner of the Open Championship, finished the championship in style with a four under par 68 and an even par total of 288.
On the subject of getting a Ryder Cup wild card selection from Hal Sutton, he laughed: "I wanted to have a good round today to make Hal have a little less sleep overnight."
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