McGinley makes mark in Masters

YOU will get long odds on Paul McGinley winning his fourth Ryder Cup cap in October but the dogged Dubliner is determined to give it his best shot and you wouldn’t write him off on the evidence of his sensational opening 66 in the Madrid Masters.

Six months after undergoing a sixth operation on his left knee, the 43-year old veteran grabbed a chip-in eagle and four birdies to share fourth place, just a stroke off the pace set by England’s Luke Donald and Welsh pair Jamie Donaldson and Rhys Davies.

It was the Dubliner’s first sub-70 score for two months and while he knows that he’s more likely to be at Celtic Manor as an assistant to skipper Colin Montgomerie, he’s keen to make an improbable bid for an automatic spot or one of three wildcards.