McGinley refuses to count chickens in Ryder Cup race

THE coveted prize is within Paul McGinley’s grasp but he refuses to accept that the Ryder Cup place is actually his until the last putt is holed in Munich tomorrow night.

McGinley shot an admirable four under par 68 in yesterday’s second round of the BMW International to move to six under par overall and into a share of 11th place. Having entered the tournament in possession of the 10th and last automatic spot in the side to face the US at Oakland Hills on September 17-19, he has strengthened his position considerably, even if Swedes Freddy Jacobson and Joakim Haeggman and France’s Raphael Jacquelin remain a threat.

It was a good day for the European cause with Miguel Angel Jimenez, already guaranteed his place, roaring to the top of the leaderboard with a 66 for 10 under, one ahead of England’s David Lynn and South Africa’s US Open champion Retief Goosen, while other team members like Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood and Thomas Levet, who was round in 65, and contenders for automatic inclusion or a “wild card” selection from Bernhard Langer like Paul Casey, Ian Poulter, McGinley and Colin Montgomerie, also performed impressively.

The one dark cloud is Padraig Harrington, who followed up poor weeks in the US by missing the cut by three strokes after yesterday’s 75.

When it was suggested to Paul McGinley that he must be very happy with his situation, he retorted: “Why? It’s a good start but everybody is coming at me and that’s what I expected. It’s not fantastic. Fantastic is everybody else missing the cut and I’m in. Let’s not beat about the bush here, this is going down to the wire. You’ve got Jacobson playing great; all I can do is play as hard as I can and make it as difficult as I can for those guys. I’ve got my sights on the two ahead of me (David Howell and Ian Poulter) to see if I can catch them.”

McGinley readily accepts that two tournaments are being contested in Munich - the BMW International and the battle for Ryder Cup spots.

Obviously, it isn’t easy for any of the contenders to focus and when you’re as close as McGinley is, the temptation is to become a little too defensive. He insists, though, that he isn’t falling into that trap.

“That’s the one thing I have to guard against,” he said.

“I’m playing the game long enough to know that doesn’t work. I’m playing as aggressively as I can. It’s a tough school. You’ve got world-class players and everybody is going to play well. I’m one of them and I’m going to have to play well too. It’s not easy to focus on winning this tournament, although it’s what I’m trying to do.

“I have put myself into a promising position. I’m not going to get excited about anything until Sunday. I have too much respect for the guys behind me and for the game. Remesy and Davis missing out doesn’t mean much to me. If I was in ninth position, I would say great, but I’m not. If the guys around the pick weren’t playing very well, I would say whoever finishes 11th has a strong case for a pick, but the way everyone is playing, it’s not going to happen, they’ll be in the hat like everybody else.”

McGinley enjoyed a golden run of birdies through the 3rd, 4th and 5th and when he reached the long 9th in two, he was -4 and on a roll. That might have all come to an end at the par five 11th where he took a disastrous bogey six. He was just short in two, rimmed the hole with his pitch and then three putted from less than five feet.

“I knocked the first one 18 inches by and I was conscious that the greens weren’t great. I wasn’t careless with the next, I actually stood over it and lined it up. It jumped left and horseshoed out.

“It did affect my momentum a little bit but I made up for the bogey there and at 17 - a good one, that, given I had to sink an eight footer - with two birdies. Six under for two rounds is good scoring.”

While yesterday ended the dreams of Jeff Remesy and Brian Davis, Freddy Jacobson certainly kept his flame alive with a sparkling round of 65 and all credit, too, to Ian Poulter, the man in 9th place who was in trouble after a 73 on Thursday. Inspired by a run of birdie, birdie, eagle from the 4th, he shot 66 for five under.

If there was a doubt about Paul Casey’s place, he removed it over the past couple of days and he, David Howell, who shot 68 for three under; Poulter and McGinley have surely done enough to clinch the last four automatic spots.