McGinley plots steady course after balancing act

Paul McGinley emerges from the recorder's hut and looks across to where all the media hacks are corralled behind the wooden railing.

The lady from The Golf Channel, the man from the BBC, a few radio men and a couple of dozen newspaper writers are all calling his name and luring him to the zone where he can feed them his thoughts without even a penny changing hands.

It's on days like this, with the hounds baying for nourishment, that McGinley knows he has done his job well. He has. With a first-round card of two-under-par 69 safely signed and delivered to the recorder, McGinley walks to meet us with the unmistakable air of a man in control.

There's no doubt he has grown in stature and belief since ascending to dizzy heights, and a share of the half-way lead over this same course in 1996, and now his proximity to the top of the leaderboard doesn't scare him.

"I have to be pleased with that score," remarked McGinley. "It was all a bit of a balancing act. I holed some long putts and missed some short ones."

McGinley, in fact, got off to a flying start with a 20-footer for birdie on the first hole and he was also to include a chip-in birdie on the 10th and a 30-footer for another birdie at the 16th in a round that featured six birdies and four bogeys.

Those dropped shots were invariably due to missed short putts - "I missed four times from inside four feet," he explained - but there was general contentment he had fashioned a decent score.

As soon as the draw was made, and he was paired with Mark O'Meara, McGinley was relaxed. "We're quite similar in our games, and I was able to feed off his tempo on the way round the course," said the Dubliner. Yet, he was also satisfied he had managed to avoid any disasters, adding: "I was happy with my course management because, if you fall asleep on this course, it will get you. This is a good start."

While McGinley was a happy man, there were varied emotions exhibited by the four other Irish players in the field. Darren Clarke finished birdie-birdie to also finish under par on 70, but Paraig Harrington had one of those days when it must have seemed as if the world was caving in.

Harrington prepared for this championship as he has for every major he has played in since turning professional. He took the previous week off, arrived early to familiarise himself with the course, and started out with high expectations. On the homeward run, though, it all went horribly wrong and he finished with six bogeys in his last seven holes on the way to a 75.

Outwardly he is smiling and, as ever, courteous; inwardly, he is dying. "I've done too much damage . . . my putting was appalling.

The greens here are very subtle, and I hate subtle greens. I like it where you can see the break, when everything is a double break and hard to see," claimed Harrington. Yesterday, he had 31 putts - in contrast McGinley had 26 - while another factor in his poor round was finding only eight greens in regulation, and this from a player who leads that category on the European Tour.

Harrington confessed to pulling four iron shots on that back nine and, in forcing things over the finishing holes, going for the flag instead of the middle of the green, he paid a heavy price. He finished with four successive bogeys and it was hardly a surprise to see him spend much of the afternoon on the putting green afterwards.

Michael Hoey, meanwhile, played very mature golf. "I gave my brother, Edward, who is caddying for me, instructions to punch me if I reached for the driver," remarked Hoey after a 73 that included a birdie finish on the 18th where he hit a two-iron off the tee and then a three-iron approach to 10 feet. In fact, the British Amateur champion used his driver on only one occasion and confessed to being "not too displeased" after his round.

Des Smyth, though, was another to rue his putting after a round of 74 that included missing from two and a half feet on the 12th and from just two feet on the 13th. "The number of mistakes I made on the greens spoiled my day. I've left myself with a lot of work to do," he remarked.