Statistics tell tale of winning ways

PAUL McGINLEY served up a display of golfing perfection from tee to green — cup included — to clinch easily the biggest individual title of his career in taking the Volvo Masters at Valderrama.

The 38-year-old Irishman has suffered some near misses this season as he strove to add the fourth title to his career tally. He finished second at the PGA Championship and World Matchplay, both at Wentworth.

But those disappointments only made him doubly determined to close out a €666,660 victory which left him third in the final Order of Merit (€2,296,422), won by Colin Montgomerie (€2,794,222) who was joint third at Valderrama.

His 10-under-par 274 matched Monty's record on the course set 12 years ago and was earned on the back of a dazzling all-round display, as the official Reuters Stats show.

He hit nearly two out of three fairways (62.5%, or 35 out of 56) on the ultra-challenging Spanish layout with an impressive driving distance average of 293.4 yards per tee shot.

McGinley, whose home is now in Sunningdale, followed up by finding 68.1% of greens in regulation figures (or 49 out of 72).

It was with the putter, though, that the Irishman really paved the way for his two-shot win over home favourite Sergio Garcia, averaging 26.5 putts a round on his way to a birdie count of 18 on the treacherous Valderrama greens.

His play over the final 54 holes was little short of phenomenal, putting behind him an opening 74 and conceding just one more bogey on his 19th hole of the tournament before playing the remainder in 14 under par with rounds of 68, 65 and 67.

Overall, McGinley three-putted just once but single-putted 37 times and two-putted four times fewer.

The stats prove the Irishman's career high-finish in the Order of Merit has been down to his improved technique and feel on the greens in 2005. Overall, he has averaged 29.0 a round during the season, his best by half a stroke since the stats were first compiled seven years ago.