World leaders block McGinley's course

Colin Powell and Kofi Annan do not usually interfere with what Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley is trying to do – but they did today.

When McGinley climbed into a courtesy car outside his hotel there was still 90 minutes before his tee-off time in the first round of the Madrid Open just outside the city.

Forty-five minutes, however, he had moved only a mile – so he got out and ran for two miles before getting in a taxi and completing the journey to Club de Campo.

“It’s normally a 15-minute journey, but as I was running I could see that roads had been blocked off,” said the Dubliner after arriving in time and then shooting a level-par 71 to be eight adrift of England’s Paul Casey.

American Secretary of State Powell and United Nations secretary-general Annan were both in Madrid for a conference on Iraq.