Madrid Masters:Golf: Paul McGinley's decision to give US Open qualifying a miss earlier in the week appeared to have paid immediate dividends in Spain today, when he raced to six-under-par in the first round of the Madrid Masters to lie one shot off the lead held by Welsh duo Rhys Davies and Jamie Donaldson and England's Luke Donald.
McGinley, who is recovering from his eighth knee operation, sat out the 36-hole ualifiers for Pebble Beach on Monday, having struggled at Wentworh but was back on song today as he gears up for the Wales Open at Celtic Manor and Open qualifiers at Sunningdale.
On six under, the Dubliner shares fourth place after signing for a 66 that featured birdies at the 12th, 13th, third and seventh and an eagle at the par-five 16th. He chipped in from over 20 yards for eagle on the long 16th, his seventh, and had another bonus when he made a 60-footer for birdie on the short seventh.
“The great thing was no bogeys," said McGinley afterwards.
And, despite being assured of a place at the Ryder Cup as one of Colin Montgomerie’s vice-captains, today's form had McGinley pondering the notion of regaining his place on the team.
“I’ve got to do something very substantial, but I’m certainly not discounting my chances,” he added
Graeme McDowell is well placed on four under while Damien McGrane and Shane Lowry are in the mix just one shot further back.
Donald bounced straight back from his Wentworth wobble today to claim a share of the first-round lead.
Five days after taking seven on the penultimate hole of the BMW PGA Championship and losing by one, Donald fired a seven-under-par 65 at Real Sociedad to end the day alongside Welsh pair Davies and Donaldson.
And as if to hit back as well at all the headlines last week calling him “Plod” — his brother started that — the Ryder Cup star made two superb eagles.
“I can’t remember the last time I had two in a round. I don’t think I’ve had one on the PGA Tour all year,” said Donald, who almost holed his 275-yard approach to the monster 653-yard ninth and then hit another rescue club 253 yards to seven feet on the 16th.
“I’m never going to overpower a course and some people think I am a short hitter, but I hit it far enough to compete. I would love to have that drive (at the 17th on Sunday) again, but I don’t see the value in stewing over it.
“If I had planned a week off it might have been tougher, but you learn and you take the positives. You obviously gain confidence from being at the top of the leaderboard most of the week.”
Donaldson bounced out of water on his second shot of the day. Still to win on the European Tour after 200 events, the 34-year-old was another not to drop a stroke.
But it could have all been so different.
“I got lucky,” said Donaldson, thinking back to the long par-five 10th, his opening hole. “It pitched in the water and bounced out onto the fringe.”
He chipped to six feet and made the first of seven birdies on a course where he does not rule out the possibility of the Tour’s first ever 59 this week.
“If the weather stays good, somebody is going to shoot something stupid — hopefully it will be me,” he said.
Michael Campbell’s return to golf got off to a nightmare start when he shot his front nine in six-over-par, thanks largely to a quadruple bogey at the third, and dropped two more on the way in.
The New Zealander is down to 650th in the world, has not made a halfway cut since October and, after failing to break 80 in either round at The Masters last month, decided he needed a lengthy break from the game.
He has been consulting with an Australian psychologist known for his work with the Wallabies rugby union team and swimmers such as Ian Thorpe and Kieren Perkins, but admitted he had no expectations this week.
“I’m just going to play with no score in my mind at all,” he said on the eve of the event.
After his round, Campbell stated: “I was going to pull out after nine holes because I’ve got a shoulder problem, but I wanted to play some golf and I managed some decent stuff.
“I’ve had a really bad run with injuries and I’m off to get physio now. There are two ribs which rub against my shoulder.”