McGinley unhappy with missing stars
And Paul McGinley described as “a shame” the absence of Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen and so on from an event that has stood the test of time since the early 50s.
However, McGinley, at Adare Manor Golf Resort in Co Limerick to conduct a clinic on behalf of Allianz, one of his sponsors, admitted that he wasn’t entirely surprised.
“The trend has been there for the last number of years,” he said. “It’s bad, really. The World Cup is a tournament of huge prestige and history, yet it’s treated like a second class tournament by most of the top players. By not playing, they’re treating it as such.
“I could never see myself saying I didn’t want to play in the World Cup no matter how successful I became. But that’s me. As a proud Irishman, I desperately want to play in the World Cup. The prize fund has remained around $4 million [€3.3m] for a few years but there’s nothing wrong with that. And remember, there’s no prize fund in the Ryder Cup and everybody wants to play.”
And that, of course, brought us on to the Ryder Cup at The K-Club next September. McGinley’s burning ambition is to be in the European side but he is bothered by a recurrence of the knee injury that required surgery a year or so ago. He may need to go under the knife immediately after the World Cup ends. The worst scenario is that he would miss all the tournaments between then and mid-February but he insisted: “It’s not definite and I’m doing exercises to shift the problem as I don’t want to miss tournaments in such an important year.”
For now, McGinley looks back on a season that has provided him with considerable satisfaction along with a great deal of frustration. An improvement in the world rankings from 68th at the beginning of the campaign to 29th means that he qualifies for all the major championships (including the Masters) in 2006 and so the opportunity to assemble all important World and Ryder Cup ranking points is all the greater.
“My world ranking has improved, it’s the highest I’ve ever had. My level of golf has improved, I’ve contended in some serious events which I haven’t done before. I’m into all the big events and that’s something to look forward to but I certainly won’t be taking my eye off the ball by playing too much in America because Ryder Cup selection is absolutely paramount,” he stressed.
“I’ll be making sure to show my face and play tournaments in Europe where I’ve done well in the past, like Malaysia, Dubai and so on. I can play where I like now so I’ll bob and weave, probably take in Bay Hill, the TPC, the world match play, the Masters, and otherwise do pretty much what I’ve done in Europe.”
As one with his heart set on playing the Ryder Cup in Ireland, McGinley has been taking due note of American successes in various team competitions, not least in the Presidents Cup.
However, he also sounded a note of confidence where the Ryder Cup clash was concerned: “They’ve won the Walker Cup, the Solheim Cup, the Presidents Cup. That will buoy their confidence. I feel Jack Nicklaus has done Tom Lehman a massive favour by finding suitable partners for two of his top players, Mickelson [DiMarco] and Tiger [Furyk]. I will be amazed if Lehman doesn’t use them next year. They have a bit of momentum and team golf is very much about momentum.
“It’s easy to be critical of the Americans last year in saying they had no team spirit but it’s hard to have team spirit after how well we played on the first day and built up a big lead.
“Hal Sutton had his way of doing things, had they won he’d have been an iconic figure, but it didn’t go his way and he was the first to put up his hand and let somebody else have a go. I know Lehman was at the Presidents Cup and watched closely what Nicklaus was at.”
When I pointed out to McGinley that this was going to be a difficult European team to get into, he was quick to retort: “It was the last time as well and I think that augurs well for our team. Anybody who makes it will be playing well and that was proved last year.
“You look at my career and think there should have been more wins but what I did in qualifying for the Ryder Cup I think was worth more than a few wins.
“I’m well aware of the competition coming up. A lot of guys are going to play really well, a lot of guys are going to make a lot of money. I’m realistically looking at the five order of merit spots and that’s not very many.
“The good thing is that I get into every big event next year and that’s why this year has been so huge for me. I have levered myself into position where I can take advantage of being in those tournaments.”
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