If the adage 'form is temporary, class is permanent' is accepted, then for the sake of Paul McGinley it is hoped the latter kicks into gear sooner rather than later because the affable Dubliner is currently staring into the abyss and searching for some much needed form.

Were the European Ryder Cup team to be picked tomorrow, McGinley would be on the team - as would his fellow Dubliner Padraig Harrington. That, however, is of little consolation to the 39-year-old who is clearly frustrated with his recent form and the number of "schoolboy errors" that have crept into his game.
   
"There has been a lot of good golf but also a lot of schoolboy errors in there," a dejected McGinley remarked after signing for an opening three-over 75 at the K-Club today. "Those mistakes have cost me a lot of shots, it's not good enough really.

"For some reason I'm just making bad swings. Every now and again those bad shots find an unplayable lie or water, I did that a lot today. I dropped a stupid shot on four when I was 20 feet from the pin. At 16 I was in the middle of the fairway trying to hold a five iron into the wind, got ahead of it, blocked it into the water and made double (bogey). I mean the water wasn't even in play. There's three shots straight away and that's unrecoverable at this level."

Asked if he was pushing too hard to copper-fasten his place on Woosie's team, he flatly denied such a suggestion.

"No. I'm not pushing too hard, no, definitely not. It's easy to say that, especially from the outside looking in. But the fact is I've lost my form. I simply have to play through it and get it back. And if I'm gonna make this team I have to play better, it's just not good enough."

McGinley will not shirk away from the task in hand as he realises the prize at the end of the rainbow to play Ryder Cup on home turf is too good an opportunity to miss.

"I'm working hard at my game," he said referring to the long hours spent on the range. "I'm not going to play my way out of this by simply sitting in my bedroom. I have to get confident again, start hitting shots I know I'm capable of hitting . At the moment I'm doing it 70 per cent of the time, but the other 30 per cent is so bad it is costing me very badly."

His friend Darren Clarke suggested today that all he needs is a "bit of momentum, perhaps as simple as a run of birdies," but even that has been a tough ask for McGinley.

"I haven't had any momentum at all recently, not even nine holes in the last 10 or 11 tournaments. At no point have I been able to walk off and thought 'Boy wasn't that great'. Everything seems to be flat at the moment, nothing is running for me, nothing is going for me."

Maybe it doesn't really matter, but the fact that Woosnam was playing alongside McGinley today won't have helped ease the frustration.

"Woosie's been great, he's superb," said McGinley. "He's doing exactly what I'd expect a good captain to be doing. He's encouraging me but at the same time he's not getting on my case. I know he's watching.

"However, that's not the issue, the issue is my form is off, it's not Ryder Cup, it's not anything else. My form is off and it's been that way for a few months. And until it comes back I ain't gonna compete, that's the bottom line."

But McGinley is a player used to looking at the glass as half full and the Belfry hero of 2002 shone a ray of light onto his predicament by concluding with: "But hey, the form might just return tomorrow!"