McGinley and Clarke bury the hatchet after Ryder Cup rift

As Paul McGinley predicted, when he met Darren Clarke, his one-time Ryder Cup team-mate turned captaincy rival on the first tee at Oak Hill yesterday, it was smiles as they shook hands.

All was as it should be between mature adults as they joined the even more mature Tom Watson for the first of two rounds together at the 95th PGA Championship — pleasant, courteous and professional.

Ireland’s McGinley and American veteran Watson will be rival captains next year at Gleneagles, Scotland, when Europe defend the trophy they retained so spectacularly at Medinah last September.

Clarke, like McGinley a vice-captain to Jose Maria Olazabal at Medinah, had ambitions of his own to be Europe’s captain having thrown his hat into the ring following that remarkable comeback victory against the United States 11 months ago.

Clarke’s decision was viewed as controversial given that fellow Irishman McGinley had widely been recognised as Olazabal’s natural successor with the 2011 Open champion expected to follow him into the job for 2016.

For a role for which there is no official campaigning, the leadership contest clearly introduced some friction into their relationship.

To the victor the spoils and McGinley was voted into the captaincy by the European Tour’s tournament committee at a meeting in Abu Dhabi in January, the PGA of America bringing the contest back into sharp focus when it mischievously paired the rivals with Watson at Oak Hill.

On Wednesday, captain McGinley had described the contest as forgotten and said he would not burn bridges with Clarke but instead move on in planning for a Ryder Cup team that could include his fellow Irishman.

And true to form, the 46-year-old McGinley and 44-year-old Clarke looked at ease in one another’s company as they waited together with Watson, 63, on the first tee, although the intense heat had Clarke and Watson looking less than comfortable in their sweat-soaked shirts.

While relations with Clarke may have understandably cooled, McGinley had been looking forward to further developing his growing friendship with fellow captain Watson. A long-time admirer of the eight-time major champion, McGinley, the hero of 2002 with his Ryder Cup-winning putt to halve with Jim Furyk at The Belfry, has turned from fan to friend since the pair were announced as rival captains.

“Very good, very strong,” McGinley said of his relationship with Watson.

“We like each other. I have always been a Tom Watson fan, I got to know him over the years. There is a rapport.”

McGinley has certainly spoken enough with Watson to know they see eye-to-eye on all things Ryder Cup, though they will cease to be friends at Gleneagles in 2014.

“We see things in a very similar way. We want this Ryder Cup to be electric, we want to see electricity, we want to see fire, we want to see passion, emotion. He will be doing the same. I know what I am up against, I know he is a very formidable competitor, a very formidable American team. Everyone is dismissing America because we won the last two Ryder Cups, but we won by a point.”

There has been talk in the American golfing media that at 64 come Ryder Cup time, Watson may be too out of touch with the players he will ask to avenge two straight defeats and that those players may not be too enamoured at the prospect of the old man taking the helm.

“I don’t buy into that at all,” McGinley said. “Who wouldn’t want Tom Watson as your captain?

“You only have to be around him as he’s inspirational and I certainly would love to play for Tom Watson.”

For these first two rounds, though, McGinley will be playing directly against his Ryder Cup rival having teed it up yesterday in a major for the first time since the 2009 Open at Turnberry, when he finished in a tie for 43rd and the American gave hope to wrinklies everywhere by taking the oldest major championship of them all to a play-off before losing out to Stewart Cink.

“Where does time go?” pondered McGinley on Wednesday as he considered the four-year gap between major starts.

“I played well in Turnberry too,” he said, before adding, “so did Tom Watson.”