Ireland's top-three tournament professionals will come together for the first time this season in the £1 million Benson and Hedges International which starts at The Belfry on Thursday. And one of them, Paul McGinley, is determined to maintain the togetherness for the US Open at Pebble Beach on June 15th to 18th.
Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington are automatically in the field for the second major championship of the season. But McGinley will have to qualify, which he has decided to do in a sectional event at Summit GC New Jersey, the previous week.
"I feel my game has progressed since I last played in the US Open at Congressional in 1997," he said. "So, I'm ready to mount a worthwhile challenge at Pebble Beach."
When Ernie Els regained the title on that occasion, McGinley had the misfortune to miss the halfway cut by only one stroke. Meanwhile, strong current form is reflected in a 12th position in the Order of Merit, despite the fact that his first outing since Qatar in March was in the French Open last weekend when he was tied 68th behind Colin Montgomerie for £1,367.
McGinley's major championship performances have been largely disappointing. In seven British Open appearances, he missed the cut in five of them, although he made a splendid challenge at Royal Lytham in 1996 when he tied with the eventual winner, Tom Lehman, for the lead at the halfway stage, before slipping to a share of 14th place.
He has never been invited to either the USPGA Championship or the Masters. So, with limited playing opportunities at this level, he has obviously decided not to repeat the error of the last two years, when he declined to try his luck in US Open qualifying.
Philip Walton, who is seriously in need of merit money, has received a sponsor's invitation this week. So, the full Irish line-up is: Clarke, Harrington, McGinley, Walton, Des Smyth, Eamonn Darcy and Gary Murphy.
Though Clarke leads the Order of Merit, this, in fact, will be his first appearance in Europe so far this year. The three official tournaments in which he has already competed are the Andersen Consulting World Matchplay, the Dubai Classic and the US Masters. Other than that, he has played in the Dimension Data (South Africa), Nissan Open (Los Angeles), Bay Hill, the Players' Championship and the Chunichi Crowns (Japan), in which he finished 11th behind Hidemichi Tanaka, nine days ago.
"It's been a very disjointed schedule so far this year, but things will become more organised from now on," said Clarke yesterday. He then explained that he would be going from The Belfry to Germany for the Deutsche Bank Open, then the Volvo PGA Championship and he will have a week off before the US Open.
Further on, he plans to play the Murphy's Irish Open, the Smurfit European Open and the J P McManus International Pro-Am. But he will miss Loch Lomond in favour of some links golf as preparation for the British Open at St Andrews.
On the other hand, his colleague in International Sports Management, Lee Westwood, will miss out on the Irish Open in favour of Loch Lomond, where he was victorious two years ago.
Harrington was already in Birmingham yesterday, preparing for his first tournament in three weeks. "That's the longest rest I've had during a season since I turned pro," he said. "I feel good; ready for action."
His summer schedule is similar to Clarke's in that he is playing the Irish Open, European Open and McManus Pro-Am, but is not going to Loch Lomond. The Irish Open will be a particularly interesting challenge for the Dubliner insofar as it will be his first experience of Ballybunion.
Some ingenious scheduling by the GUI meant that he could not compete in the Irish Close at Ballybunion in 1993 because he was en route to the Walker Cup at Interlachen at the time. "That's going to be really special, but there's a lot of golf to be played before then," he said.
The presence of Montgomerie in this week's field, fresh from a two-stroke victory in Paris last Sunday, will revive memories of two years ago at The Oxfordshire. That was when Monty, in similar mood, went head-to-head with Clarke over the final round, only for the Tyroneman to emerge victorious. But the big Scot returned to capture the title last year.
Meanwhile, a cheque for £4,836 for a share of 36th place last Sunday, has lifted Gary Murphy to 109th in the Order of Merit and strengthens his prospect of end-of-season survival. Indeed the 29-year-old from Kilkenny has already done admirably, given that he had experience of only nine European Tour events in the six years prior to this season.
His best performance from 1999 was tied 35th in the West of Ireland Classic at Galway Bay. But that effort has since been outstripped, certainly by his performance in more elevated company in Paris, where he overcame the dispiriting start of a 76 to shoot 69, 68 and 71 on the way to a four-under-par 284.
