First hole bogey fails to fluster McGinley

HE'S only 5 ft 7 ins and weighs in at less than 12 stone. But when Paul McGinley is on his game, he can hit the golf ball a mighty long way.

He demonstrated this at Royal Troon yesterday when he drove the green at the 379 yards 3rd and reached the dreaded 490 yards 11th with a drive and seven iron. The most unfortunate of bogeys at the 1st, where he had to call a penalty shot on himself, was compensated by three birdies and a two under par round of 69 which has got his 12th challenge for the Open off to a very satisfactory start.

He had a preferred tee time of 7.03am. The wind, generally speaking, hasn't yet made its presence felt, the greens are still in pristine condition. Not a pitch mark in sight. For McGinley, however, it meant climbing out of the bed at 5am and tucking into the porridge quarter of an hour later. Another thirty minutes and he was joining his Dublin caddy Darren Reynolds on the practice range.