Paul McGinley enthusiastic to assist his Ryder captain
Paul McGinley, who has played and won the Ryder Cup three teams is now, one of the European Captain Colin Montgomerie’s, vice captains.
McGinley shot the winning putt in 2002 and has a desire to be the team captain in 2012. Before Paul reaches such a height, he has to prove to be a good vice captain to Monty this time. The Ryder Cup is starting tomorrow at Celtic Manor in Wales. Paul is
one of the four vice captains, who will be assisting Colin in the captaincy and is very excited about it.
Paul arrived at Wentworth Country Club at his Brian Viner interview 35-minutes late and apologized for his punctuality fourteen times. The 43-year old Irish man is very friendly and very polite but not a very keen interviewer. Paul always makes sure that
he is not stealing the limelight from his friend and senior Colin. How very modest of McGinley.
Once Nick Faldo said that the importance of the Ryder Cup captain is much exaggerated and that it doesn’t make a difference who the captain is. Faldo stated that the captain is only as good as his players.
Faldo also criticized that any captain can pair up two major champions only so they will lose to a pair of newcomers. Few years later when Nick was himself captain, his statements and views quickly changed. McGinley on the other hand doesn’t agree with Faldo’s
theories.
Instead of Faldo, Paul has his own favourites. Paul’s first Ryder Cup captain was Sam Torrance at Belfry in 2002. To Paul, that Ryder Cup was very special because it was his first and they won.
McGinley says that even though the US team was stronger and in better form than them, his captain’s tactics were well thought out. Torrance had learnt from the defeat that Europe had in 1999 in Brookline and he assured that all the new players before Sunday.
Then on Sunday, Sam let out all the big guns, something that didn’t happen in 1999.
Where Paul praised Sam for the 2002 win in his interview, he really didn’t bash Faldo for the 2008 defeat in Valhalla. However, he did say that the US Paul Azinger did a great job leading and motivating the team.
Praising Sam Torrance, Paul said "A lot of the passion I have for the Ryder Cup comes from Sam. But the part I played at The Belfry that week is overplayed. I was in a position to put the icing on the cake, but the heavy work was done by Monty, Lee [Westwood],
Darren [Clarke], whereas in '04 I was one of the players who did the donkey work. I played great that week".
In 2004, Paul’s captain was Bernhard Langer and even though he wasn’t like Sam, he still was very clever. Paul reminisces that in 2006, Ian Woosnam was the captain and that they had a very strong team. Paul appreciates that Woosie didn’t have any ego and
was very confident to have everyone play on the first day.
When asked about this year, McGinley thinks that the team is very solid, possibly even the strongest team Europe has ever had. He does accept that they will be facing a very powerful American team but he is very confident that they will win. Paul says that
even though Monty is not as popular as Woosie or Torrance and isn’t as composed as Langer but he does get a lot of respect from everyone and will definitely prove to be a good captain.
The other three vice captains this time are Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn and Sergio Garcia. Clarke’s has somewhat of an aggressive attitude to golf and has played in Woosnam‘s team in 2006, which was the same year he lost his wife to cancer. Bjorn has played
in two Ryder Cup matches and has won both times. Sergio brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm with him.
Sergio isn’t the only one with enthusiasm, this Ryder Cup has everyone on their edge of their seats. With the captains, vice captains and players ready to battle, spectators can expect to witness highly competitive golf.
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