McGinley grabs his chance

GOLF: Inch by inch, cent by cent, Paul McGinley is edging towards his goal and accumulating enough points to make the European Ryder Cup team off his own bat.

Starved of an appearance in any major in America all season, the Dubliner - "I'm chuffed to bits," he exclaimed - finished the 86th US PGA championship at Whistling Straits yesterday with a final round 69 for six-under-par 282 that propelled him into a top-10 finish in a major for the first time in his career.

These days, McGinley is making big statements with his play. Despite missing a chunk of the early season after undergoing surgery on a knee injury, the hero of the 2002 Ryder Cup at The Belfry has put himself on the cusp of another appearance.

"That's my second six-figure cheque in a row," remarked McGinley, who was second in last week's Dutch Open. "I've played just really good golf. You can't get around here by playing poor golf, you need quality shots. If you're a little off line, you can take doubles or triples."

On a day of beautiful sunshine, with just sufficient wind to make players think twice about club selection, McGinley made a significant move up the field. While Justin Leonard reached the turn on 11-under holding a two-shot lead over the pursuing trio of Chris DiMarco, Stephen Ames and Vijay Singh, McGinley had safely posted his scorecard in the recorder's hut and could reflect on a good day's work.

Darren Clarke had slipped to seven-under for the championship after 11 holes of his final round, with Padraig Harrington struggling and dropping back to two-under after 13 holes.

With a broad smile on his face, McGinley, who has undertaken a seriously packed schedule in his attempt to gain an automatic place on the European team, said that he was "proud" with his accomplishment, although he added: "Making the team is not a negative pressure. As I've said, guys who are out here struggling to make cuts and struggling to pay the mortgage and to keep their kids in school - that's real pressure. It is a nice pressure to be at the pinnacle of the game and trying to make the premier team in world golf, which is what I consider the Ryder Cup team to be.

"I've got a lot of adrenalin bouncing around my body these last three or four weeks. I've got to make sure I don't burn myself out. I've missed the family a lot, because I've been away on tour so much, and I've made a lot of sacrifices being away from home. But that's my career," said McGinley.

In yesterday's third round, he played alongside fellow European Ryder Cup candidate Jean Francois Remesy which, he conceded, added an extra bite to his play.

"It was a bit gung ho, but I like matchplay and it was golf played in the spirit that it is meant to be played," said McGinley, who needed just 26 putts in posting a 69 that featured six birdies and three bogeys.

These days, McGinley - who only received his invitation to play in the US PGA last Monday, after breaking into the top-100 in the world rankings on the bubble - is playing with almost as much confidence as he has ever had and, ironically, he attests to his improved distance off the tee to a change of gym work that was necessitated by his injury in the spring.

"I'm physically stronger now than I've ever been at any stage of my career," he claimed. "I'm hitting the ball further than I have ever hit it in my career and I have got the bit between my teeth and I don't want to let go. Because of my knee injury I had to change my gymnasium work a bit and have had to change my exercises as opposed to using so many weights.

"It seems to have paid off, because I'm certainly hitting the ball a long way. Nowadays, modern golf is such a strong game. You've got to hit the ball so far and fortunately now I have that game because I wouldn't like to be coming out on tour as a really short hitter. It just doesn't cut it any more."

For the first two majors of the season in the US, McGinley had to sit at home and watch on television. It hurt.

"When you're an ambitious guy like I am, you want to be playing in them," said McGinley, who certainly made the most of his late invitation, posting his third top-10 finish in his last four tournaments.

"To shoot 69 in the last round was very satisfying," admitted McGinley. "It was all very bunched starting out, and I knew there was a lot at stake. If I was going to shoot 73 or 74 today I was going to backpedal a lot because a lot of guys around me. Instead, I jumped the right way.

"But the job is not finished yet. I have a long way to go, there's a lot of quality players out there.

"I'm not dismissing getting a wild card if I don't make it, but what I am doing is that I don't want to mentally think that I have that door open to me. I don't want to go down that road. I want to make the team and I have it within my grasp," said McGinley, who plays in this week's NEC and also next week's BMW International, the final counting event towards determining the team.