Profile / Editor / 02 July 2007 / Leave a Comment

There can have been few prouder men in golf than when Paul McGinley famously rolled in his putt at The Belfry in 2002 to regain the Ryder Cup for Europe.

Faced with a tricky ten-footer on his final hole to win the trophy, McGinley was calmness personified as he rose to the task for Sam Torrance's side and found the centre of the hole.

The same cannot be said about the celebrations that followed as he and his caddie both ended up in the lake by the 18th green.

McGinley has always been a great team man. After the triumph in 2002, the 40-year-old went on to complete a historic hat-trick of successive victories for Europe in the Ryder Cup in 2004 and last year, while he has also represented Ireland in eleven World Cups - winning in 1997.

One of the fittest men on the European Tour and also one of the hardest workers at his game, the big frustration is that he not won as much as he possibly should have as an individual.

McGinley has won four European Tour events and eight in total since turning professional in 1991, with his biggest success coming at Valderrama two years ago at the season-ending Volvo Masters.

That victory helped him end a career-best season in third place in the 2005 European Order of Merit as he climbed into the world's top 20 and great things were expected of him last year.

But McGinley has struggled to live up to those expectations since then and, although he battled manfully to secure his place in last year's Ryder Cup team, that has been one of the few high points in an 18-month spell that has seen him fall outside the world's top 150 players.

While the popular Irishman has missed only two out of 12 cuts this season, his best finish is only joint 16th at the Qatar Masters in January and he lies at a lowly 120th in this year's Order of Merit table.

McGinley returns to the scene of last year's Ryder Cup heroics this week when he lines up in the field at the Smurfit European Open and he will be hoping his happy memories of The K Club will spur him on to better things, where he is currently available at 60 to win in the developing market and at 7 to record his first top-ten finish of 2007.

It is difficult to pinpoint why he has largely struggled with his game since the end of 2005, but the statistics would suggest his lack of form has been due to a culmination of factors.

McGinley's driving accuracy is down this year by four per cent to 63%, his average driving distance is also down for the third successive year (275.36 yards) while the numbers of greens in regulation he has hit in 2007 (68.13%) is the worst it has been for the last eight seasons.

But he remains a player of considerable talent with a steely determination to challenge the best in the world and all of the European Tour will be hoping he enjoys a productive campaign in the second half of the season.