Paul McGinley tells Philip Reid that the race for The K Club can spur a European to victory
For someone bred on the nuances of links golf, Paul McGinley's experiences in the British Open, with one notable exception, have been disappointing. And that's putting it mildly. In 13 appearances in this oldest major, the Dubliner has missed the cut six times and only once got into the rarefied air of contending, in the 1996 championship at Royal Lytham, where he shared the midway lead only to fall back to eventually finish 14th.
It remains his best result.
Why should it be? McGinley, for one, doesn't really know the answer to that.
"I don't know why I haven't done better. I like links golf. I have grown up playing links golf. I should have performed better.
"I feel like I am preparing the right way," he says. "I enjoy the golf courses. I enjoy the size of the tournament. I don't know.
"I think if I got away to a good start and get in there it might be different. But I don't seem to be doing that. I seem to be slugging it out for the first two days and then trying to make up ground over the weekend, which is always tough to do in a major. If it is anything, it is the slow starts which seem to be holding me back."
McGinley is not alone in having disappointing British Opens. Not since Fred Daly won here in 1947 has an Irishman won a major (he is, of course, the only one to achieve the feat) and, not surprisingly, that is a statistic McGinley would love to see change.
"Thinking of the players we've had down the years, I don't know why one hasn't won. Is it that it means more to us to win an Open? Is it that there are more fans around compared to the other majors? I don't know.
"I don't think you can just be critical of the Irish. I think you can be critical of the Europeans (as a whole). But it is not for the want of trying."
Could this be the week to end either drought, since Daly in 1947 became the only Irish winner of the title, or since Paul Lawrie in 1999 at Carnoustie became the last European male to win a major of any description?
McGinley believes the intense competition for places on this year's Ryder Cup team at The K Club could translate into a European finally getting his hands on the claret jug.
"I think this European Ryder Cup team is going to be the strongest team ever," he said. "The reason I say that is there are 25 guys who are all very capable and good enough to make the team. When you're good enough to make that team, you're good enough to win the British Open. I wouldn't discount anybody this week. I think we have the strongest European talent on tour that we've ever had and that translates to the possibility of a European winner. I think someone's going to have a run."
McGinley arrived at Hoylake only yesterday afternoon, having spent Monday practising at Sunningdale and then spending yesterday launching TaylorMade's new TP balls at Caldy Golf Club, just up the coast from Royal Liverpool.
To those who believe that Hoylake is nothing more than a chicken run, a course that will be destroyed by the players over the course of the championship, McGinley claimed: "I don't agree with that. You can make a golf course 8,500 yards long. If you make it soft, we'll find a way around it because we can control the ball. We can hit the ball from A to B and know it is going to stop. We can hit it from B to C and know it is going to stop. We mightn't shoot the lights out, but we have control, once the ball hits the ground we know where it is going to stop.
"On a golf course like this we hit the golf ball from A to B but it rolls on to C and D and E and F. The ball is out of our control. When that happens, it is a lot more difficult scenario for us as professional golfers than when a course is 8,500 yards long and soft. This tournament is not going to be the washout in terms of scoring that everyone believes."
Time will tell.
