GOLF: The quest for Ryder Cup qualification is leaving little room for error, and Paul McGinley, currently occupying the 10th and last automatic place on Europe's team for the defence of the trophy at The K Club next month, is a bit like the tightrope walker halfway across the canyon determined to press on rather than turn back and wait for others to fall by the wayside.
To that end, the 39-year-old Dubliner, who has just completed nine straight tournaments, has decided to add on next week's KLM Dutch Open to his schedule.
Originally due to take a two-week break after the Deutsche Bank Players' Championship in Hamburg, won impressively by Sweden's Robert Karlsson who has leapfrogged his way into an automatic place on Ian Woosnam's team, McGinley has decided he can't afford to rest in his bid to secure a third straight Ryder Cup appearance.
"I feel that I will need to make another 200,000 points in order to secure my spot, which is turning out to be a much higher level of points needed than people were originally anticipating," said McGinley, who currently has amassed 1,455,992 points. He has a gap of 119,087 over England's Paul Broadhurst, who has slipped out of an automatic place on the team, and a cushion of 190,953 over Johan Edfors.
With five more counting weeks remaining before Europe's team is decided at the BMW International in Munich, neither McGinley nor Harrington is yet guaranteed of an automatic place. The situation doesn't surprise McGinley however.
"I've been saying all year that this will be the strongest European team ever, and everyone who makes the team will be fully deserving to be there," he said.
When McGinley won the Volvo Masters last November, it was estimated that 1.2 million points would more than likely be sufficient. But it has proven to be a lot more competitive than that, with McGinley now figuring that over 1.6 million points will be required to secure a place.
Since undergoing knee surgery in May, during the Irish Open, and missing the following week's BMW (PGA) Championship in Wentworth, McGinley has played every week in attempting to cross the finish line without needing a wild card pick.
His best finish (tied-fourth) came in the Smurfit European Open but, critically, he has missed the cut by one shot in both the big-money US Open and British Open championships when he had chances to establish a greater safety cushion on those in pursuit.
"I was very pleased with the way I played last week (in Germany). I felt I hit the ball extremely well and putted well too," said McGinley who is taking a family holiday this week (missing out on the Scandinavian Masters), before resuming the run at next week's Dutch Open. He will play four successive weeks, also taking in the US PGA, the Bridgestone Invitational and the BMW International, in that all-out quest to claim a Ryder Cup place.
Although Harrington is marginally better positioned than McGinley, Karlsson's achievement in playing his way onto the team with some impressive performances over the summer, highlighted by his win in Hamburg, will serve as a further warning to the two Irishmen with the likes of Broadhurst, Edfors, John Bickerton, Kenneth Ferrie, Thomas Bjorn, Simon Kahn, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Niclas Fasth and Anthony Wall still positioned to leapfrog up the qualifying table should any of them manage to win in the coming weeks.
Broadhurst, like McGinley and Harrington, is taking a break from this week's Scandinavian Masters, but Edfors - who has three wins already this season - is a very real danger to those ahead of him in the qualifying race. From a position in 2004 when there were no Swedes on the Ryder Cup team, this year's team is already assured of having two, Karlsson and Henrik Stenson, with another three, Edfors and Fasth and Carl Petterson (off the world ranking), still in contention for a place on the side.
The remaining counting tournaments are this week's Scandinavian Masters (top prize of €266,660) and next week's Dutch Open, but the real movers and shakers may be determined at the US PGA and the following week's Bridgestone Invitational (which have combined purses in excess of $14 million), with the BMW Invitational in Munich being the last counting event in qualifying for the European team. The US qualifying process finishes at the US PGA.
Harrington plans to take a two-week break from tournament play, returning to action at the US PGA in Medinah, outside Chicago.
Six Irish players are competing in the Scandinavian Masters in Malmo: Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, Michael Hoey, David Higgins and Stephen Browne.
Meanwhile, 33 home players will be competing in the Ireland Ryder Cup Challenge at Mahony's Point in Killarney, starting on Thursday. Brian McElhinney, who only turned professional after the US Masters, is currently the leading Irishman, in 184th place, in the Challenge Tour rankings.
