Wales Open: The former champion Paul McGinley believes talk of a sub-60 round at this week's Wales Open could prove a little optimistic. With the Wentwood Hills course at Celtic Manor under reconstruction ahead of the 2010 Ryder Cup, the £1.5 million event is being staged over the Roman Road course, which is 600 yards shorter with a par of 69.
A similar round to eventual winner Simon Khan's stunning 11-under-par 61 last year could see the magical 60 barrier broken for the first time on the European Tour. But McGinley, runner-up to Angel Cabrera in the BMW Championship at Wentworth on Sunday, is not convinced low scoring is on the cards as he chases his first win since his play-off victory here in 2001.
"It might be one of the shortest courses we play, but I don't think it's going to be the easiest," the Dubliner said. "From what I hear the rough is up, the greens are very tricky and there are a lot of elevation changes.
"Bad weather is forecast and I don't think you are going to find extremely low scoring from what my caddie has told me after walking the course on Tuesday.
"I hear there are a lot of different experiences from the flatness and firmness of Wentworth last week, but that is what the European Tour is all about.
"I think it adds to the ability of the European player in that we play in varied conditions. That adds to our repertoire rather than take it away."
McGinley carded a final round 67 at Wentworth but crucially played the last three holes in one over par to finish two shots behind Cabrera. "I feel I have played well enough to win since 2001, but somebody seems to be rising to the occasion to beat me," added McGinley, who at least has the consolation of climbing back into the world's top 50 to qualify for the US Open.
"Mark O'Meara did it in Dubai last year, Paul Casey did it in China this year when I shot 63 in the last round and still didn't win.
"Cabrera had a two-shot lead on me and shot 67 the last day. When you do that you are going to win nine times out of 10 and he did. But I was one over for the last three holes and you are not going to win many tournaments doing that."
Stephen Dodd will replace world number five Retief Goosen at the top of the European Tour order of merit if he finishes no worse than second at his home event. Welshman Dodd, the surprise player on this year's tour with victories at the season-opening China Open and the Irish Open two weeks ago, lies sixth in the standings with earnings of €787,574.
If the 1989 British Amateur champion does overhaul Goosen, he will have to accept his raised profile in the game after conceding yesterday that even the British Open had not been in his plans this year until he "unexpectedly" qualified. "It may sound ridiculous but it interfered with my schedule," Dodd, one of the most quietly-spoken players on the European Tour, said as he prepared for today's opening round.
"I didn't want to have to go off and try and qualify and mess up my schedule when there were so many big events going on around the Open. It's not that I don't have ambition, more that the majors were just not part of my planning much until this year."
Dodd, who turned professional in 1990, spent 14 years trying to win his first Tour title but he has grown in stature since his breakthrough in China and his play-off victory over British Ryder Cup player David Howell at Carton House last month.
Although his spectacular rise in the world rankings to 57th has not been good enough to earn him a spot in this month's US Open at Pinehurst, Dodd has qualified for his first US PGA Championship in August.
Also playing this week are Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Philip Walton and Stephen Browne.
