Good chance for McGinley to crack it

PAUL McGINLEY returns from a two week holiday, following his British Open Championship heroics, with every prospect of achieving that elusive first European Tour victory when the Austrian Open begins in Litschau, today.

The Dubliner, who finished 14th at Lytham, is the in forms golfer in a field composed mainly of Challenge Tour regulars and Qualifying School graduates.

But he gained a surprise rival for a title worth £41,660 when England's Ryder and World Cup golfer Barry Lane decided he would play at the Waldviertel, Club after pulling out of the US PGA Championship.

Lane, ranked 48th in the world, had received an invitation to Kentucky on the strength of his eighth place in the European money list last season.

But he is reconstructing the swing that won him more than £900,000 in 1995, and decided that it was not reliable enough to give him any prospect of success in the US.

"I have been working with Bill Ferguson on making changes to my backswing and downswing, in looking for more consistency, and I have had only one top 10 finish this year," explained Lane. "As I like this course and play well here, it seemed much more sensible to keep working on my game here rather than go across and try to play in 100 degree heat knowing I would be lucky to make the cut."

McGinley, who has spent the last two weeks in Donegal, is nevertheless full of confidence. "The Open was such a wonderful week that it gave me so many good things to work on and remember," he says. "I gained a lot of confidence from scoring 65 in the second round and being in the lead, then playing with Tom Lehman."

Today McGinley plays with Lane and Sweden's Mats Lanner in the morning's feature group, and it looks as though the Dubliner's only problem on this picturesque park land course will be to get quickly down to earth and establish his presence, although it may be too optimistic to hope he can do it in the same way as Alexander Cejka 12 months ago.

Then the German opened with a record 61 and won by four shots from Ronan Rafferty, with McGinley in fifth place Rafferty, who won the Austrian title in Vienna in 1993, is back again, but his form has been patchy this season.

He failed to qualify for the Open and he is currently 89th in the Volvo rankings.

McGinley has another consideration to retain his place in Ireland's Dunhill Cup team, which will be finalised after next week's Czech Open. He looks safe enough with a lead of more than £80,000 over nearest challenger David Feherty, now back in the US, and over £90,000 clear of Raymond Burns, down in 71st position.

Burns, Milltown's Francis Howley, and Waterville's David Higgins complete the Irish lineup for the youngest of Europe's family of national Opens. A first prize of £41,660 is on offer, and there is an additional bonus that the champion qualifies for the place in the following season's Sarazen World Open in Atlanta.

One former champion who has passed up that opportunity this time is England's Peter Mitchell, who was last night fined £250 by tournament director David Garland for failing to notify Tour officials of his withdrawal.