Adare course good for golfers, says McGinley

Paul McGinley believes this week's Irish Open is the perfect way to boost Europe's chances of ending their major championship drought.

Thirty majors have been played since Paul Lawrie's Open championship triumph at Carnoustie in 1999, and while the likes of Thomas Bjorn, Thomas Levet and Colin Montgomerie have gone close, victory remains elusive.

It has often been suggested that such a poor record is down to a lack of European Tour courses which adequately prepare players for the rigours of major championship venues, but McGinley feels Adare Manor in Limerick is perfect to buck that trend.

Penal rough and a length of 7,207 yards - even after it was shortened by 246 yards yesterday due to anticipated bad weather - meant just 16 players in the 156-strong field broke par in the opening round, McGinley himself managing a 72 to lie four off the lead shared by Simon Dyson, Swedish pair Peter Hanson and Peter Gustafsson and Argentina's Andres Romero.

"There's one argument that says fans will come down to see birdies and that things are going great," McGinley said.

"And then you have the second argument to say, 'we've won the Ryder Cup the last three times, we have good players here and we're not winning major championships and why is that?'

"I think a lot of the reason for us not winning major championships is we don't play golf courses that are difficult enough. It's a very valid argument. We very rarely play a golf course that's set up like a US major, a USPGA or US Open.

"Now should it be set up like that for an Irish Open? I really don't know. Is it fun to play? Not really. Is it fun to watch? Probably not, although some people might like seeing us hack it out of the rough.

"But in terms of major championship preparation, it's spot on. That's what we need to do if we need to prepare ourselves for playing tough golf courses when we go to America. It is an eye-opener when you go over to the US Open and go in the rough and it's (effectively) a penalty shot."

Dyson certainly agreed with that point of view, adding: "The more you play courses like this, the better prepared you are when you come to US Open-type courses.

"I played at Pinehurst in 2005 (when Michael Campbell won) and it's very similar. Driving the ball was very demanding, just like here."

Pre-tournament favourite Padraig Harrington was among the majority who failed to break par, a double-bogey six on the 10th contributing to the European number one's 73, one over par.