GOLF BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: THERE'S A BIT of the terrier in Paul McGinley. He just never gives up; and, if there are those who may think Wentworth owes them something after past heartbreak, the 41-year-old - yup, he's passed that milestone - Dubliner is not one of them, since he's not inclined to dwell on the past. For him, it's about the present, and the future!
The West Course here has been a temptress to McGinley. It has flirted and teased, as his runner-up finishes in the BMW PGA championship (to Angel Cabrera) in 2005 and in the World Matchplay (to Michael Campbell) later that same year confirm. Yet, he has never felt betrayed, or a sense of injustice. "The game's too big for that. I just go out and do the best I can and whatever happens, happens. The game doesn't owe me anything," said McGinley.
Yesterday, though, it was as if the game - and the course - gave back a little. In shooting an opening round of seven-under-par 65, which constituted a course record because of the substantial changes to the course in the past two years, McGinley - playing beautifully, hitting 12 of 14 fairways and finding 15 greens-in-regulation and going from start to finish without incurring a bogey - claimed the first-round lead in European Tour's flagship tournament, finishing a stroke clear of Sweden's Robert Karlsson.
McGinley, it seemed, was immune from some of the disasters that befell others. Cabrera, for instance, started out with five straight bogeys but showed his fortitude by battling back for as commendable a round of 73 as he'll ever shoot. Niclas Fasth was not so fortunate, though.
The Swede moved to two under when he birdied the 10th, at which stage he hadn't dropped a shot to par. Then, he ran up an incredible sequence of bogey-bogey-bogey-bogey-double bogey-bogey on the way to a 77. If you drop your guard, this course has the propensity to persecute.
Vijay Singh didn't give it the chance. The Fijian damaged a stomach muscle on the range on Wednesday, and yesterday - before teeing off - was forced to concede defeat in his efforts to be fit to play. Ernie Els, ranked number three in the world, and the man responsible for the course renovations, must have wondered if he had created a monster when a double bogey six at the eighth left him four-over-par at that juncture. He eventually signed for a 75.
The capacity to bite was everywhere, from the par four third - which proved to be the toughest hole of all, averaging 4.53 and producing just three birdies (hats off to Marcus Fraser, Oliver Wilson and Alvaro Quiros Garcia) - to the 17th, which despite being ranked as the third easiest hole on the course still had the potency to inflict a quintuple bogey 10 on Michael Jonzon.
So, on a course where the average first round score was 74, and with others severely mauled for any indiscretions off the tee, McGinley's error-free 65 was quite the accomplishment.
But such a round has been coming, as he has been near-or-about the top of the stats in driving accuracy and putts per greens-in-regulation all season. All it has taken is for the putts to drop, and they did yesterday as he crafted birdie opportunities that he took on the fourth, ninth, 10th, 12th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes to claim the lead. The longest of those putts was a 20-footer, on the 14th.
That the putter should finally start working for McGinley is no accident. After a poor season by his standards in 2007, in which he finished 74th on the money list (his poorest finish since 1992), McGinley decided not only to hit the gym with a passion over the winter but also to work on his biomechanics and putting with Paul Hurrion.
"I struggled technically last season. I'm over 40, and when you reach that age the body is not as nimble or subtle and I changed my training regime. I didn't change anything fundamentally, but worked with Paul on my putting. Other than that, it is all Bob Torrance, Bob Torrance!"
The upshot is that McGinley - perhaps appropriately in a Ryder Cup year, when he tends to respond better than anyone to the qualifying process - has, finally, sizzled. This 65 was his lowest score since the TCL Open in China in 2005, although he felt it was the best he had played since the first round in the British Open at Carnoustie last July when he opened with a 67.
Wentworth traditionally brings out the best in him. As McGinley explained, "this is a real test of golf, a proper test of golf. You're not tested enough on course management any more on a lot of the courses we play because they are soft and one-dimensional. Whereas this is an old-style course, this is what the game was initially designed around and I revel in it. You don't only have to play the shots, you have to control the ball and to have course management as well . . . it's chess-like, you've got to use your brains."
Only three players - McGinley, Karlsson and Fraser - shot bogey-free rounds yesterday. Karlsson, enjoying a rich vein of form that has seen him follow on from his top-10 in the Masters with third places in the Italian Open and Irish Open these past two weeks, remarked: "I'm working hard to keep it simple and not to be too hard on myself, not to waste energy on any sort of temper . . . this is a course for a player with patience."
Just like Karlsson, McGinley isn't letting his mind race ahead. Reminded that it is 50 years since an Irishman won this tournament - Harry Bradshaw in 1958 - McGinley said: "I have so far to go, there's a lot of steps to be taken between now and Sunday and I don't even want to think about it or go there. If I'm going to have a chance (at winning), I'm going to have to play the quality of golf I've played today."
