Paul McGinley sets sights on double Olympic gold

Paul McGinley will head to Brazil and the Olympics Games host course next month in a first step to delivering two golfing gold medals to Ireland.

McGinley will captain the Ireland men’s and women’s team when golf returns to the Olympics in August.

Four-time major winning Rory McIlroy is assured of spearheading the Irish men’s team and with his partner for competition from August 11-14 to be either Shane Lowry or Graeme McDowell.

World No. 1 ranked amateur Leona Maguire along with Stephanie Meadows, third two years ago in the US Women’s Open, will pull on the Irish colours for the women’s event running from August 17-20.

McGinley plans to travel from Miami to Rio de Janeiro on March 6 and straight after his Sky tv commentary commitments at the WGC–Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral in Florida.

“I’ve got three days in Rio inspecting the accommodation for the Irish players and then also looking over the golf course, along with noting the distance between the two venues and basically just getting my head around everything,” he said.

“It’s going to be a whole lot different in terms of being a Ryder Cup captain and nowhere near the scale of the preparations that went into Gleneagles.

“Given golf is a new sport for the Irish Olympic Council, I see my role as establishing a platform in going forward and especially laying a foundation if golf should become a permanent Olympic sport.

“Basically, I am the middle man between the golfers and the Irish Olympic Council with the role of trying to make it all as seamless as possible for all the Irish players.

“So I won’t be a captain in the Ryder Cup captaincy sense but then having said that the players still will have to be prepared and I need to ensure they have the best opportunity to bring a medal, and hopefully it is a gold medal, back to Ireland.

Of course, McGinley knows McIlroy, Lowry and McDowell well and revealed he spent time over the recent Christmas break getting to know Maguire and Meadows better.

“I had met Leona and Stephanie before I was appointed Irish captain but then it was good to catch up with them and have a great talk with them both over Christmas,” he said.

“As for the Ireland men’s team, Rory is certain to qualify while the second member of team is being hotly contested but then with qualifying concluding at this year’s Open Championship there is still a long way to go before we know the make-up of both the men’s and women’s teams.”

McGinley has been to the Olympics just once as a spectator to the 2012 London Olympics while he’s never previously travelled to Brazil.

“As a lover of sport I am looking forward to seeing all the other Irish athletes and residing with them in the Olympic Village, and also watching and learning from all the other Irish team captains,” he said.”