McGinley on upward curve

PAUL MCGINLEY had been down in the dumps about his status as a professional golfer prior to finishing a splendid second behind Mark O’Meara in the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday.

Obviously, it was very difficult for a man who finished eighth in the European order of merit in 2001 and was 35th in the world rankings to travel to the Desert Classic last week with his standings as low as 64th and 159th respectively. He admitted it was a long way short of his expectations and was determined to get his career back on track. He certainly went the right way about it and finishing a shot behind O’Meara on 16 under par was no disgrace. He picked up a cheque for €178,619 that moved him up to 11th in the order of merit with €200,118 and to 101st in the world ranking.

That’s nothing to write home about yet. He is an almost certain non-starter in the Masters in a month’s time and unless he maintains his progress consistently over the coming weeks, his only hope of playing the US Open will be to either get into the top 50 in the world or pre-qualify. The same applies to the British Open in July, while he needs to make the top 50 to take part in the lavishly-endowed world championships, the last of which is the American Express at Mount Juliet at the end of September.