EUROPEAN TOUR:PAUL McGINLEY heads a five-strong Irish challenge in this week's Mallorca Open. The Dubliner has eased himself back onto the tour after undergoing knee surgery but now plans to undertake a more intensive schedule in a determined attempt to make the Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor in October.
In fact, McGinley will use Mallorca as the springboard for a stretch of four tournaments in a row that will also take in next week’s BMW PGA at Wentworth, the following week’s Madrid Masters and finish the stretch with an appearance at the Wales Open in Celtic Manor.
“I feel I’m in a position to do this now as I’ve done all the rehab on my knee that my doctors have set out for me,” said McGinley, who has fallen to 319th in the world rankings.
McGinley is joined in Mallorca by Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, Simon Thornton and Colm Moriarty, who usually plays on the Challenge Tour, but who gets a rare opportunity to play on the main tour.
Denmark’s Soren Hansen, ranked 50th in the world rankings, is the best-ranked player in the field.
Only four members of the world’s top 100 are playing and three of them face each other in the opening two rounds.
Bristol’s Chris Wood, fifth and third in the last two British Opens and last season’s Rookie of the Year, plays with Hansen and Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.
Just behind them is Swede Peter Hanson and all four will be looking at the Iberdrola Open Cala Millor Mallorca at Pula as a golden opportunity to register their first win of the year.
For Wood, third in the Italian Open on Sunday, it would also be a first victory of his professional career.
The 22-year-old made his name as an amateur at Birkdale two years ago and then at Turnberry last July missed out on the play-off by only one shot after bogeying the last hole like compatriot Lee Westwood.
He further stood out – at 6ft 5in that is not difficult – when he was unbeaten in Britain and Ireland’s victory over Continental Europe at the Vivendi Trophy in Paris.
That performance came in front of Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie and on the possibility of being part of his line-up at Celtic Manor Wood says: “It would be amazing, but there are probably 40 players have got that in the back of their minds.
“At the moment I’m not seeing myself as one of the top 12 in Europe. The team looks so strong already. A big win could change all that, of course.”
This week would not constitute a “big win” as the total prize money of £€791,000 is the third smallest on the circuit, but it could do wonders for his confidence.
Hansen plays for the first time since the US Masters over a month ago.
The former Irish Open champion is still dealing with a court case in Denmark after being charged with tax evasion last August.
Many of the Tour’s lesser lights will see this week as a chance to make their mark and there are others looking to get back in the headlines.
Kenneth Ferrie’s five-year exemption for winning the European Open expires this season and he has so far missed eight out of nine cuts.
MALLORCA OPEN
Course: Pula GC, Son Servera
Length: 6,808 yards. Par: 70.
Prizemoney: €800,000 (€133,330 the winner)
Layout: This is a short course with tricky hazards dotted around the place. With only two par fives it demands more accuracy than power.
Field: 144
Irish in action: Paul McGinley, Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, Simon Thornton and Colm Moriarty.
On TV: On Sky Sports all four days (10.30am today).
Weather forecast: Sunny today but showers tomorrow and Saturday. Partly cloudy on Sunday but warm.
