Dodd stands firm but the biggest smile is McGinley's

European Open: Those crowded around the 18th green, both those in the grandstand that will be disassembled and carted across the river to be part of the Ryder Cup's infrastructure, and those standing outside the ropes, made a play of doffing their caps to Stephen Dodd, the laid-back Welshman who captured the Smurfit Kappa European Open yesterday as if he didn't understand the meaning of pressure.

In truth, though, most were still abuzz with what Paul McGinley, who'd finished an hour earlier, had achieved. No, it wasn't Lazarus rising from the dead, but it was close.

The Dubliner's transformation, from the brink of despair on Friday evening when he travelled to Dublin airport believing he had missed the cut, to weekend rounds of 67 and 69 that catapulted him through the field to eventually finish in tied-fourth, constituted a modern epiphany to indicate some form of divine inspiration. It also brought that wide grin of his back to his face.

After months of trials and tribulation and self-doubt, McGinley rediscovered his self-belief. He isn't quite across the line in securing his Ryder Cup place, which has been the focal point of his season, but he is virtually assured of doing so after collecting a cheque for €126,685 to move to sixth in the European points list (with 1,392,030), which puts him in seventh position in the European team composite standings. He reckons he needs another 100,000 points to be guaranteed of his place in the team.

A stiff wind blew across the hillocks of the Smurfit Course on the southern side of the Liffey, causing many players to struggle with club selection and ball control, and pushed the stroke average to 75.46. And Dodd, of those who started the day in contention, was the only one to remain immune from trouble.

His response to two early blips, bogeys at the sixth and seventh, was to cover the remaining 11 holes in four under par, finishing with a 70 for 279, nine under, two shots clear of Anthony Wall, who sank a 35-footer for birdie on the last, and Jose Manuel Lara.

Dodd covered the back nine in 33 strokes, and McGinley was the only one to match that homeward run. When the Dubliner rolled in a seven-footer for birdie on the 18th, a putt he reckoned was more difficult than the one that made him a Ryder Cup hero at the Belfry in 2002, as it had a double break, he assumed the clubhouse lead and was in a share of second place, just one behind of the then leader Lara.

The logjam was such that a play-off was conceivable, and McGinley headed to the practice range just in case.

But Dodd's finish, a bogey-free back nine that included birdies at the 11th, 16th and 17th, enabled him to slip clear of Wall, whose closing birdie clinched a place in the British Open at Hoylake, and Lara, who birdied the 16th and 17th to recover from three dropped shots in successive holes from the 12th.

Quite rightly, though, McGinley was proud of his weekend's work, where he finished in tied-fourth on 282 alongside Lee Westwood, Graeme Storm, Simon Kahn and Jeev Milkha Singh. "If flight EI169 hadn't been delayed on Friday night, I'd have been flying over The K Club, not playing on it," he quipped, of an evening spent waiting in an airport lounge with too much time to think of the fates that had befallen him.

But a phone call from his wife, Alison, brought good news, that he looked like making the cut. McGinley had been 91st when he left the course. The change in travel plans was facilitated by airline staff who retrieved his luggage and clubs.

When you get such a break, you still have to take advantage of it. McGinley did that.

"That's the best I've played tee to green for a long time," he conceded, "and that gives me as much pleasure as any result. But let's get things in perspective. If I am going to make the Ryder Cup team, I have got to be playing much better. That is two good rounds, but I have got to keep going. The ball is in my court and I have got to keep producing it."

On Saturday, in the third round, McGinley hit 17 greens in regulation and was just on the fringe of the one he missed, the fourth. "That's normally my game. I wear the golf course down, by hitting fairways and hitting greens. It is nice to see it back, it's been a while since I went on holidays. It is a while since I played with confidence."

McGinley, who changed to a new two-ball putter for this tournament, finally found some sort of a comfort zone on the greens.

Yesterday, McGinley took time to commend the role Ian Woosnam played in his revival. "Woosie's been great. He had a word in my ear. He was supportive and wasn't on my case. He did everything a captain should do, and his role as Ryder Cup captain has really started in earnest with a lot of players jostling for position.

"This is going to be the strongest European team ever because the standard on tour now is so incredibly high and there is so many players capable of making the team. Plus the guys who made the team the last time with a record victory in Oakland Hills, we all want to be on it as well, allied to the guys coming up from behind. I think it is going to be a hell of a strong team."

If McGinley could relax slightly and look ahead to the next few weeks, the champion, Dodd, last year's Irish Open winner, could savour his third European Tour win in his 204th event as a professional.

"Coming here, I didn't really have a lot of form. But golf's golf, you never know what's around the corner. I think patience over the weekend was a big factor, that was the key really."

McGinley, for one, could empathise.