Diving in at the deep end

Interview/Paul McGinley: Images of the past. Of a Sunday, September 29th, in 2002, to be exact. The clock on the tower edges its way to 4.54 p.m. precisely and, with one putt, Paul McGinley grabs his destiny

The dance he performs on the 18th green of The Belfry in the heart of old England is one that would never find a place in Riverdance, for sure; and some cold-hearted Americans likened it to that of a penguin jumping around. But, to heck with it all, this is no charm school. It's the white heat of the Ryder Cup, and McGinley has won the darn thing for Europe.

Two years on, and it seems McGinley's world hasn't stopped spinning; not even for a microsecond. Of course, time tells its tale. His hair is speckled with a few more touches of silver but the glint in his eye is that of a fresh-faced kid setting out on life's challenges; it's of an Irishman with a hankering for the Dubs and Celtic and the Irish soccer team and knowing and loving the fact that he, Paul Noel McGinley, born on 16th December, 1966, has a place in sporting hearts because of what he has done in the past and that he has a chance to do it all over again.

Of all of Bernhard Langer's 12-man team, McGinley is the one who has worked hardest to book his ticket on next Monday's Virgin flight to Detroit. But he's a part of the team - again - and he doesn't intend to be mere decoration. He sits in a chair in the clubhouse of Adare Manor, his glinting eyes taking in the paintings by old masters that adorn the walls, remarking on their beauty and their appeal, and he talks with a boyish zeal of golf's greatest show.

Does he realise what he has let himself in for? Does he ever. "Oh yes, very much so," remarks McGinley, adding: "That was the whole appeal to me, to play an away game. I remember playing with Padraig Harrington in the World Cup (at Kiawah Island in 1997) and playing with Davis Love and Justin Leonard, who were both major winners at the time in the third round and of course all the support is for the Americans and we're just two young kids who haven't done very much in the world of golf at the time trying to hold their own against these Americans in their own back yard. I just remember facing them, and thriving on the fact everyone's against me. It was a little like the GAA mentality that goes back to doing it away from home.

"It's a big deal. In a perverse way, I like going into the lion's den and I want to go into the lion's den in Detroit. It's going to be intimidating and I'm under no illusions about that.

"I'm also under no illusions that things turned out whiter than white for me personally the last time and I'm under no illusions that this is going to be a fairytale again. I'm very realistic about the fact this is the top echelon of world golf. My expectations of people, particularly the American team, will be higher; and they'll have higher expectations of me.

"There's going to be a different slant and I'm ready for that . . . all I can say is I feel I'm prepared mentally to go into such a situation. I'm expecting a really tough week, and I'm expecting a lot of hostility."

Yet, there's no trepidation; his voice is strong and clear, with not a hint of fear betraying his outer composure. Of course he hasn't before encountered the hostile environment that awaits at Oakland Hills, but he's had glimpses of it and, unlike some who fold under such pressures, he's been able to see an amusing side.

Like the time he first played a big tournament in the US, the NEC Invitational at Akron in the late 1990s and, as fate would have it, McGinley was drawn to play alongside Colin Montgomerie. "It was at the time he was called Mrs Doubtfire," recalls McGinley, "and his profile was very high." Anyway, the two approached the second green where McGinley had pitched on, but the Scot's approach had been pulled left and rolled down a bank beyond the next tee and Monty had to play a pitch back up to the tiered green.

"There was a buzz, simply because it was Monty. You could feel it off the crowd and Colin stomps down and clears everyone out of the way. He has got to play this pitch and run up the slope, and hits a lovely six-iron shot up onto the green and he just misses the pin and it goes about six feet by.

"A brilliant shot, but it just keeps rolling to the top of the ridge. So, as Monty's stomping up, all the crowd all start blowing. 'Go on, ball. Go on.' And, right on cue, as Monty gets to the top, the ball starts to roll and the next thing you know he's got a 60 yard pitch from the bottom of the green and all the crowd are cheering and shouting."

In telling the tale, McGinley knows it was harmless, and that it'll be a different sort of cauldron in Detroit.

As far as Monty - one of Langer's wild-card picks - goes, McGinley holds him in the highest regard. "He's a really big influence in the team room . . . he's got a huge amount of respect from the players. He's clever and intelligent and not afraid of the Americans. He's not afraid of going head to head.

"His performance in the last day of the last Ryder Cup in the singles was one of the greatest golf performances ever in the history of the game . . . he'd a colossal responsibility, playing number one against Scott Hoch who everyone expected him to beat and, if Monty hadn't set the tone, it was going to be very difficult for numbers one and two and three and four to pick up the pieces.

"He created a surge of energy and his calmness in the team room, that 'no-panic' demeanour, was immense." He adds: "Monty's our unofficial playing captain. Put it this way, if it was a football team he'd be the captain."

If there is any hint, any trace, of concern, it's about the set-up of the Oakland Hills course.

"That's what we have to address more than anything," says McGinley. "Hal Sutton is no clown, he knows how he wants the course set up. The poor performances of Europeans on US Open style courses is there for all to see and, from what I hear, he has got this course set up like a US Open course. If I was Hal Sutton, I'd be doing exactly the same. You can't criticise him for that. When we played at The Belfry, we'd fairly slow greens to try and annoy them and set it up with the fairways narrowed at 300 yards and not very much rough around the greens so the chip and run became a factor as opposed to a lob out of heavy rough."

For McGinley, the lure of the Ryder Cup, or, as he puts it, "the greatest sporting show on earth aside from the Olympics and the World Cup", is two-fold: one, playing as part of a team in a sport that is notoriously selfish and, secondly, playing golf in a matchplay situation, in real one-to-one combat.

Of the team aspect, he says: "I've had a tremendous buzz from being part of a team, whether it be Dunhill Cups or World Cups or on the Irish amateur team, or the Grange Senior Cup team, and going right back to my footballing days. I always get such a buzz from the responsibility of being part of a team, when you're all pulling in the same direction. It wasn't the fact of holing the winning putt the last time, and it wasn't the fact we won. It was the bonding, the camaraderie, the extra level, that I enjoyed from the whole experience."

As for matchplay, the appeal harks back to the days when he would caddie for his dad, Mick, and watch his dad's pal, Padraig O'Rourke - a three-time South of Ireland champion - play.

"I learned more about matchplay from Padraig than anyone else. He's as cute as an old fox . . . and I've learned no matter who you're playing, there's going to be ebb and flow. You always get a window of opportunity and when that window opens you have to walk through it. Psychologically it's about taking that opportunity when it presents itself."

When McGinley makes the transatlantic journey on Monday, it will be to another adrenaline rush. He's happy, too, to downplay expectations.

"I'm very happy to be made big underdogs. Onpaper you have to be realistic and say, yes, it's a US Open style course and, all bullshit aside, they'll be favourites . They've got home turf, home advantage, and have got course advantage which is the biggest they're going to have. It's going to be really, really, really tough for us. But, one to 12, we're strong and there's not a weak link on our team. It's going to be a terrific, memorable sporting occasion."