European team’s the theme for captain McGinley

As serious as the build-up to D-Day was for Paul McGinley in the Ryder Cup captaincy selection process, it didn’t take long for some lighthearted texts from his home city to allow him to relax and for some calm breathing and belly chuckles to replace the tension.

“You can’t beat the Dublin wit,” says McGinley, referring to a text message that did the rounds on his ascension to the hot seat for the match in Gleneagles next year.

“You know the one?” asks McGinley, before adopting a tone a la the comedian Jason Byrne. “January, great month for Ireland. McGinley Ryder Cup captain, Shergar found in Tescos.”

Even passing through Dublin airport the other day for a short visit, the homecoming was greeted with congratulatory shouts and wisecracks from workers and fellow travellers in the terminal. No place like home to keep you in your place.

But, then, McGinley is someone who is secure in his own body. Always has been. From the time a knee injury as a teenager switched his sporting ambitions from Gaelic football to golf, his focus has always been to make the most of his game.

Three Ryder Cup wins, and a World Cup win attest to how that determination was propelled on to the golf course and, now, here he is, the first Irishman to be entrusted with the captaincy of the European Ryder Cup team.

First things first, and McGinley – who acknowledges the role his GAA playing days played in instilling a team ethic into his sporting psyche – and knocks on the head any suggestion that Donegal manager Jimmy McGuinness will be an official part of his back-up team at Gleneagles. McGuinness is a performance consultant with Celtic.

Friend of mine

“Look, it’s safe to say Jimmy is a friend of mine. He’s a guy I’ve known for a number of years, a family friend. He’s a real good friend of my dad (Michael) and he’s been up to our house quite a lot. Like most people who are friends with me, of course I will discuss the Ryder Cup with him.

“I’ll be asking his opinion on this or that. But in terms of him sitting in the cart or riding around with me, no, that’s not going to happen . . . he won’t be officially sitting on the cart and wearing the European colours. No.”

For this one, McGinley is European. “I won’t be playing very strongly the Irish card,” he says.

“I am representing Europe. As much as I am Irish and proud of being Irish, proud of my GAA background and proud of all those things that made me into what I am, at the end of the day this is Paul McGinley representing Europe and it is going to be in Scotland. So, it’s very much a European head I have on.”

He adds: “I have always loved team sport, always been into the psychology of team sport; I didn’t know if I could take that and turn myself into a leader of people. In some ways of course I’m a rookie Ryder Cup captain but in other ways I’m also a very experienced Ryder Cup captain.