McGinley: Ryder rumpus ‘very emotive’
This is the final counting week for Europe but there are no points at stake in New Jersey where Harrington, Casey, Donald and Rose are contesting the Barclays Championship, the first event on the US PGA Tour’s lucrative Fed-Ex Cup series. The quartet have come in for criticism from a whole host of their European Tour colleagues — and not just those still in contention for one of Colin Montgomerie’s three wild card picks at the close of play here on Sunday.
“I only had to stand on the practice range for a half hour to hear what the guys are saying,” commented McGinley, one of Montgomerie’s three vice captains at Celtic Manor.
“I got a real ear bashing. It’s very emotive with the players.”
Several of the fringe contenders have come to the Scottish Highlands at considerable inconvenience to themselves simply because being a member of the Ryder Cup means so much to them. Sky Sports commentator Ewen Murray attracted McGinley’s attention when he wrote in a blog that there was a time when it was the Americans who chased the money and the Europeans who thought more of the Ryder Cup than anything else.
“The shoe is now on the other foot,” Murray claimed. “I put that point to McGinley as we walked down the first fairway at Gleneagles during yesterday’s pro-am and wondered if Europe’s once well acknowledged advantage in team spirit was being gradually eroded and diminished.
“It’s a really good question and the answer is I that I really don’t know. I’ll be able to answer that question better in six weeks time. Ewen Murray had a go at Pádraig which I thought was a bit unfair and I took it up with him.
“I burst a gut to get on Ryder Cup teams but I’m not going to answer questions about guys who might not be as committed as I was. It wouldn’t be right for me to comment officially on that but you can make your own assumption.
“What about loyalty to the European Tour — what about loyalty to our sponsors in these tough times? You may be right to ask me that but it would not be right for me to comment as I’m just there to give an opinion if Monty asks me for it. I’m not going to make the pick on my own. Monty is going to make most of the picks himself, he might bounce some ideas off us, but he’s the captain and he’ll be making that decision.”
McGinley also scotched the belief held by many observers that Montgomerie may have already indicated to Harrington and Casey that their places are secure.
“I don’t think he has his mind made up, it wouldn’t be right for him to do that now,” he stressed. “I can absolutely guarantee that nobody has been told that they’re in the team.”
McGinley reiterated what he has said many times on the subject — that he would be “very surprised and disappointed” if Harrington is not in the team.
“He’s a world-class player. But I’m not talking about who I’m going in to bat for. It would be unfair to everybody else who’s in for a pick and just because Darren (Clarke, fellow vice captain) and myself are Irish wouldn’t make it right for us to wear our Irish hats. We have to act in the best interests of Monty picking what he regards as the twelve best players to win the Ryder Cup.
“I’d love to be in Monty’s shoes,” he claimed. “To be captain of the Ryder Cup team would be a great honour. He can’t lose with his picks because he’s got so many strong contenders. He’s going to disappoint some people and make other people pleased.
“We’re going to have the hell of a strong team, probably the strongest we’ve ever had. If you add up our world rankings and divide them by 12, I think you’ll find that it’s the lowest any team has produced.”
McGinley refused to be “pigeon-holed” by suggestions that the Molinari brothers, the Swedes Robert Karlsson and Peter Hanson, Englishmen Ian Poulter and Justin Rose were readymade foursome/fourball partnerships.
“There’s merit and advantages in everybody you mention,” he insisted.
“I’d love to have them all in the team but unfortunately they haven’t qualified and played well enough to get in the team. I’ve been through this myself, I’ve never been one of the top five, and I think my greatest achievement in my career so far was the qualifying process for Detroit in 2004. I came from nowhere to finish 6th in my last round playing with Freddie Jacobsen when I shot 65 or 66 to pip him and get into the team. That was my best performance as a professional. It’s a nervy time for those guys on the edge of the team but it’s also an exciting time.
“If you don’t enjoy the process of trying to make the team, you’re not going to enjoy the Ryder Cup. If you can prove to yourself in a tight situation about making the team as Peter Hanson did last week and as I did in Detroit when I won all my matches, you’ll go to the Ryder Cup with every confidence.”
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