British Open update: It hurt Paul McGinley so much not to be in the Masters or US Open this year that he could not bring himself to sit in front of a television.
But it should be easier for the 40-year-old to watch the highlights of the first day of the Open Championship at Carnoustie — he marked his return to big-time golf today with a superb four-under-par 67.
McGinley, the only member of last September's Ryder Cup side not to be at Augusta in April after a slump outside the world's top 150, held a one-stroke clubhouse lead and was two ahead of hat-trick-seeking Tiger Woods.
"It obviously feels wonderful to be leading a major championship," said McGinley, who has not had a top-10 finish all year. "The thing that pleased me most was I played with quality — and it's a pretty good tournament to do it in."
This is not the first time McGinley has been in such a position. But the other occasion was long before he started his Ryder Cup heroics in 2002.
Helped by a front-nine 29 — one outside the Open record — at Lytham in 1996 the Dubliner shared the halfway pace with American star Tom Lehman. But he was then caught like a rabbit in the headlights.
"It was just a circus. It was something I'd not seen before. I remember 20, 30, 40 photographers around the greens and just off the tee boxes and every time somebody hit a shot there was a massive click, click, click.
"Of course, I was overawed by the whole thing, no doubt about that. It was a big, big, big learning curve."
Lehman had a third-round 64 and went on to win. McGinley shot 74 and ended up 14th. That remains his best finish in the event, but with three Ryder Cup wins under his belt that is clearly something he hopes to change.
"When I'm playing well I feel as good as anybody, but when I'm playing bad it's 'am I ever going to play well again?'
"I've had a great start, but there's a long, long way to go and this golf course is so difficult and relentless."
It is also the longest in Open history at 7,421 yards and McGinley admits he cannot overpower courses.
Nor does he like the cold and wet conditions that greeted the players, but without the ferocious rough that turned the links into "Car-nasty" eight years ago, with a winning score of six over par, he was able to cope with the challenge.
"For me it's all about ball control and on the practice range something I worked on kicked into place. I birdied the first two holes and when you do that in a British Open it's a great buzz."
McGinley, who on the recommendation of his cup partner Padraig Harrington sat down for the first time with American sports psychologist Bob Rotella on the eve of the championship, was four under after seven and then three clear when he added further birdies at the 13th and 14th.
Three-putting the next and going in a bunker at the 248-yard 16th led to bogeys, but he avoided another on the last by getting up and down from more sand.
For a while it looked as though 1995 champion John Daly, after a year containing yet more personal turmoil in his life, might steal the limelight away from McGinley.
But having pitched in for an eagle two on the 383-yard 11th to go to five under the American, who last month claimed his fourth wife had attacked him with a knife, double-bogeyed the next and then had a triple-bogey eight on the 14th.
In the clubhouse one behind McGinley were New Zealand's 2005 US Open champion Michael Campbell, another who has been having a "torrid" time of late, and Austrian Markus Brier.
On the same mark and still out on the course were Ryder Cup team-mate Luke Donald, reigning US Open champion Angel Cabrera, Japan's Achi Sato and also, incredibly, the youngest player in the field.
That is 18-year-old European amateur champion Rory McIlroy, from Holywood in Northern Ireland. Good enough already to have scored a sensational 61 at Royal Portrush two years ago, McIlroy turned in 35, birdied the difficult 10th and then hit his tee shot to within four feet of the flag on the short 13th.
