McGinley still mining that old magic

PAUL McGINLEY may not be the most talented golfer here at Oakland Hills this week but I doubt if there’s a more committed member of either side.

Having battled so gamely to get here in the first place, he is now throwing himself body and soul into the European cause and was quite magnificent in his fourball match in which he and Luke Donald, the young English rookie, tied with Chris Riley and Stewart Cink.

Indeed, they might well have completed a European whitewash only that Riley, the rookie with the golden putting touch, nudged home a seven footer to match Donald’s par on the 18th green.

“What a wonderful morning for Europe is my initial thought - who would have thought it?” the Dubliner said.

“The story really is Montgomerie and Harrington. To take out the American No 1 and 2, psychologically it just sent a shiver right down through the team.

“It was an immense performance. Darren also played well, so really it was a great team effort. Momentum is huge in the Ryder Cup and fortunately we had it this morning. But the Americans are a wounded animal.

“They will come back. They are a very strong team with 12 strong players and a strong captain.”

Having underlined how much work still remained to be completed, McGinley revealed what he had said to his rookie partner on the first tee.

“I told Luke what Darren told me last year,” he said. “Luke, you go first, and if you miss the fairway, don’t worry. I’m coming straight after you, and that’s what Darren told me. I felt a great sense of security at those words. This time, Luke hit it right, as everybody knows, and fortunately I smashed it down the middle at 340 yards. It worked for Darren and I and hopefully it worked for Luke this morning. I’m sure it did.

“He didn’t say a word. He was a little bit in shock and obviously nervous. You know, I had a few words with him going down the fairway and then it was a case of letting him get on with his game. He was great. He got stronger as the game went on.

“His two iron to 18 is one of the greatest I’ve ever seen in circumstances like these for a rookie.

“I think as a team we are all very proud of the way he’s come through his first match. He’s only going to get stronger from here in.”

When asked if he would have liked to play in the afternoon foursomes, McGinley quickly retorted that: “I want to play in every round but it’s entirely up to Bernhard and what he does is okay by me.

“The bonding in the team has been great; we are close together as a team. I’m very proud of Padraig today and I’m proud of Darren, too.

“Darren was world-class this morning so it’s great for the Irish. And then, we have a wonderful captain.

“I know Bernhard is going to make a lot of right decisions this week.

“It gives a lot of security to the team to have such a clever man as captain and who knows how to win Ryder Cups,” he added.