GOLF EUROPEAN OPEN:THE FEISTY terrier is back, as Paul McGinley - who, as he put it himself yesterday, seems to be "on the comeback trail all the time" - demonstrated in the second round of the European Open, recovering from an abysmal finish the previous evening to reignite his challenge at the London Club in Kent with a 68 for a midway total of 137, seven under.

Pride isn't a sin, it's a vital tool for any professional sportsman; and McGinley, hurt at his fall in the world rankings that has left him as a mere onlooker at the season's first two majors and still without a ticket into the British Open in a fortnight's time at Royal Birkdale, has - yet again - rolled up his sleeves and gone about tackling whatever obstacles are put in his way.

On Thursday evening, after a bogey-double-bogey finish that felt like a punch in the stomach, given how well he had played for the preceding 16 holes, McGinley was left with another night to gather his thoughts.

Yesterday, with the baggage of the first round's finish packed away, the Dubliner responded by producing a round that had five birdies and only one unforced error, a three-putt bogey on the 11th (his second hole).

It's just over a month since McGinley reached the halfway stage of the PGA at Wentworth with a healthy lead, only to suffer a form of self-combustion over the weekend. He eventually finished tied-10th, but the scars had not healed by the following week's Wales Open, where he missed the cut.

He then added the St Omer Open in France to his itinerary, only to miss the cut there.

Still, a seventh-place finish in last week's French Open gave McGinley confirmation that he had started to turn the corner, only for his failure to come through the international qualifying for the British Open at Sunningdale on Monday last to inflict another knock.

He's nothing if not resilient, and the only response he knows is to fight back. The past two days have served to prove his durability.

"Yeah, it's good to bounce back after dropping those three shots (on Thursday). I've had some reversals of late and seem to be on the comeback trail all the time. But I'll keep fighting, keep bouncing back and see where I go.

"I've played decently since Wentworth without getting the big results. That's all that's been missing from this year. I've played some quality golf but haven't put it together for four days, and Wentworth's an example of that. I've got to be patient, to eliminate mistakes. I'm not far away at all."

The type of mistakes McGinley would like to eradicate was typified by that three-putt bogey from 20 feet.

Aware that Graeme McDowell, in the match ahead, had got off to a fast start, McGinley was too aggressive with his birdie putt, sending it five feet past the hole, and then missed the return.

"I'm being just a little bit aggressive at wrong times, am falling asleep. Golf is not about how well you played but how little mistakes you make. Unfortunately the mistakes I make tend to be big ones, like the 18th yesterday when I hit it in the water.

"You're losing ground every time you're making a mistake and I lost a lot of ground yesterday."

McGinley is aiming for that much-sought-after big finish that would assist his latest quest for a place on the Ryder Cup team (he was a member of the past three winning teams).

But his main focus these days is to return to the world's top 50. He languishes in 134th place in the rankings and, consequently, doesn't get automatic exemption into the majors.

"To be honest, getting back into the top 50 in the world is more important than the Ryder Cup . . . I'm not in the British Open, not in the US PGA, and I wasn't in the Masters and wasn't in the US Open. The Ryder Cup doesn't get you in to those. That's my main goal this year.

"If I get into the Ryder Cup, it will be as a consequence of getting into the top 50. That's what I'm focused on, the top 50. My game's started to turn around in the last nine months from the crap that I played before that and I'm not far away. The only thing missing is a big result or a big cheque or a big number of points. If you give me a cheque like Monty last week (in France), and all of a sudden I am in the team.

"I've been chipping away, winning 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, 60,000 . . . . but in order to make the team you need some really big cheques.

"It is not really about winning, it is about doing what Monty has done in coming from nowhere into strong contention for the team, and that is what I haven't done over the qualifying campaign."

Now McGinley is in a position to make that big cheque. And he has also given himself a chance to sneak into the British Open: the leading player in the top five here who isn't already exempt for Birkdale will get a ticket to the big show.

The incentive is there to perform over the weekend.