McGinley ready for a tough exam

Paul McGinley is no golfing innocent. He's been around the block often enough to have the hardened look of someone who knows what it takes to get the job done.

He's proven it. When the questions were asked in the white-heat of the Ryder Cup, he answered in the affirmative.

And, yet, when the Dubliner checked into his hotel just 500 yards from the first tee on Sunday night, his first impulse was to throw his bags into the room and go for a walk in the gathering dusk on the Pinehurst No 2 course that this week stages the US Open. For someone more often left off the invitation list than placed on it, it was good to be back in the big time.

"It's not like I've been away for five years or anything and then come back. I finished fifth in the US PGA, and played in the Ryder Cup," explained McGinley. "Okay, I haven't been in the US Open since Bethpage in 2002 but I don't feel like I've been away.

"It's no disgrace not to be in the top-50 in the world and not be in the US Open. This and the Masters are the two hardest majors to qualify for."

The simple fact, however, is that this will be McGinley's 21st appearance in a major, but only the third time he has played in the US Open. On both previous occasions, Congressional in 1997 and Bethpage in 2002, he missed the cut. But there's something different this time round. For one, he's arguably playing the best golf of his life; and, for another, this course - which he played for the first time in practice yesterday, alongside Padraig Harrington, Michael Campbell and Robert Karlsson - appeals to him.

The course created by Donald Ross - "this guy is the Tiger Woods of golf course design, the Jack Nicklaus of golf course design . . . he was way ahead of his time," said McGinley - has him utterly and totally captivated.

All last week, at home in Sunningdale and between practice, he spent his time poring over a book about Pinehurst. Yesterday, when he played it, or, as he put it, "browsed", the course for the first time, it felt as if he'd been there before. "It's not as penal (a course) as the US Opens I played before. The examination paper this week is a really tough one, but a fair one. I can see the idea of the swales. I can see how Ross wants you to play the hole and the shot that he requires you to play into the hole.

"It's a thinking man's course, especially around the greens," said McGinley, who planned to spend three hours walking the course last night, without his clubs and just a little black book for note-taking. "I want to have every detail."

If he'd never really gone away, McGinley is nevertheless keen to maintain the form of the past few months that have once again elevated him back into the world's top-50. His runner-up finish to Angel Cabrera in last month's BMW Championship at Wentworth ensured his place in the field here. For someone who couldn't bear to watch the Masters on television because he wasn't there, it's a vindication of his decision to undergo knee surgery over the winter.

"The great thing I've done now is have a great jump in the world (rankings) by coming second in a huge money event early in the season. I've never done that in my career before. I've always come strong late on in the season.

"Now, I've a great opportunity to have a really, really high finish in the Order of Merit. I'm not coming from behind. In previous years I've always been chasing, chasing. Chasing positions in the Order of merit. Chasing points in the Ryder Cup. Whatever. Now, I've levered myself high up the rankings early in the season.

"For me, it's really only starting. I didn't play the schedule these other guys played in terms of the world matchplay, Bay Hill, the TPC, the Masters. I missed all those events and I feel extremely fresh. It's almost like I'm just starting. I feel like I've had a month, maybe six weeks, of golf. Now, I have got a great opportunity to go ahead and have a huge season."

Although the stark statistic is that no European player has won the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970 (at Hazeltine), McGinley - who plays the opening two rounds with New Zealand's Michael Campbell and American left-hander Steve Flesch - is convinced that this Pinehurst No 2 layout is more suitable than many American courses for European players.

He argued: "I won't be surprised if the Europeans play well. This is a European-style golf course more so than other US Opens. In fact, it's not too dissimilar to some of the green designs at Baltray, particularly those par threes where you have a belly to hit it into and if you miss the belly you're going to have a tough up and down. But if you miss it on the right side, you've got a chance. That's what Ross was trying to achieve here. Yes, you've got to take on the shot but if you miss it, you've got to miss it in the right place and from there you've got to use your short game and get on to the next hole and face the same thing again."

One of McGinley's on-course mentors yesterday was Harrington, who paid a reconnaissance mission to Pinehurst last month and whose missed cut at the Booz Allen in Congressional at the weekend meant he got the opportunity to take in an unscheduled practice round again on Sunday.

Harrington, who has slipped out of the world's top-10 for the first time in over a year, down to 11th after yesterday's rankings were released, claimed the course would present "a good solid test all round. I like it. I'd probably like it a little more firmer around the greens, if I had my choice."

For those players who undertook rounds yesterday, most of the time was spent experiencing the nuances of the run-off areas around the greens. Harrington added: "There's a lot of variety required around the greens. The pitch and run shots are really taken out of the equation because the surfaces off the greens are just a bit sanded to be able to run the ball in with a nine-iron or an eight-iron. You're better off keeping the ball on the ground, or going over it. So it's either a case of putting it (with a fairway wood) or lobbing it."