McGinley's Way
Ireland’s Paul McGinley won four titles in a career spanning nearly three decades. But he will be indelibly linked to successful European Ryder Cup campaigns as a captain and player.
The sense of underachievement or regret is something nearly every golfer battles with as he or she nears retirement. But, for Paul McGinley, reflecting on his own career can often evoke contrasting emotions.
With just four European Tour wins to his name, the 53-year-old Irishman will not go down as one of the greats of the game. However, his iconic moments in Ryder Cups as a player and captain over the past two decades have made him into a European hero and it is this – the Ryder Cup - that he has become most renowned for.
Yet, unlike actors who struggle with being permanently tagged to a certain program or film, or singers to a particular song, McGinley is not worried about his career being defined alongside a biennial event but rather at peace with it. Perhaps in the knowledge that many would love to have achieved the kind of success he has in golf’s biggest team tournament.
“It doesn’t particularly bother me,” McGinley exclusively to GolfAustralia Magazine. “I don’t have an ego in that regard. My career was a very good one and I am aware that players at the elite level are gauged and remembered and defined by major championship victories in particular. The next best thing to that is a Ryder Cup record and I am OK with that.”
Looking back, some might judge McGinley as being an average golfer. In his 29-year career, the highest he ever got to in the world rankings was 18. That was in 2005, which was probably his best ever season when he finished third in the European Tour Order of Merit and recorded the last of his four tournament wins at the Volvo Masters in Valderrama.
For somebody without an impressive honours list, though, McGinley’s certainly had his fair share of limelight on the big stage, almost exclusively in Ryder Cups. In 2002, for instance, he holed the winning putt for Europe before magical scenes kickstarted with him jumping into the lake at The Belfry’s 18th green and being draped in an Irish tricolour. Meanwhile, the years of 2004 and 2006 saw him playing further parts in Ryder Cup success for Europe in Detroit and at The K Club in Ireland.
I WORRY ABOUT THE STATE OF THE CURRENT GAME AT THE ELITE LEVEL …
– PAUL MCGINLEY
Still, despite such a good record representing Europe, the lack of personal success is not easily forgotten, and the missed opportunities can sometimes hurt even more as you reach the tail end of your career. Something McGinley has been finding out.
“It’s (the 2002 Ryder Cup) certainly the most memorable but it’s not the standout moment for me,” says McGinley. “I feel I contributed and played much better in the 2004 Ryder Cup in Detroit, but it was great to deliver in 2002 at that moment in time with so much on the line.
“I would have liked to have won more titles. My biggest regret was not winning the HSBC World Matchplay at Wentworth in 2005. I was beaten in the final by Michael Campbell 2 and 1. The golf I played that week was probably the best golf I have played in my career. I never really came close to winning a major. My best finish was two shots o the play o at the 2004 US PGA when Vijay Singh won.”
Although McGinley is rueful of not being more prolific in his career, fortunately, perspective is something that he isn’t short of. In truth, he knows that he did well to play in three winning Ryder Cup sides, especially when you consider Matt Wallace missed out on the 2018 European team after winning three tournaments in the same year – one short of McGinley’s entire career haul.
Nevertheless, there is no disputing the fact that when McGinley was named Europe’s Ryder Cup captain for 2014, it was well deserved. For sure, some might have raised an eyebrow looking at the lack of personal success on his CV, but his form in team events, both as a player and captain, soon quashed any doubts.
Playing Gaelic football as a youngster, McGinley has always been well versed with being part of a team and the camaraderie is something he strives on. Winning the World Cup of Golf for Ireland, alongside Padraig Harrington, in 1997, and the Seve Trophy for Great Britain and Ireland, both as a player in 2002 and 2005, and as captain, in 2009 and 2011, moulded him into a leader.
Since Europe’s win at Gleneagles, McGinley has been credited with how he approached the role as captain. His dedication to the job, attention to detail and innovative ideas like introducing legendary former Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, to the team for an inspirational speech set the benchmark. Now, with six years having passed, he’s clear on what he thinks was the main reason for his success as captain and, despite his formidable record as captain, that he won’t be using it to try his hand at coaching.
“I’d say the experience and confidence in my ability to be captain based on my two winning Seve Trophy captaincies,” says McGinley. “And the observations I made on all the greats of European golf, from Seve to Rory, who I either played with, was captained under or I captained.
“And, no. Coaching is not something that comes easy to me. I will leave that to the experts but always happy to give advice on the bigger picture stu of which coaching is a part of.”
As someone who always appears to be thinking ahead, it is hardly a surprise, then, that, with his
career winding down and without coaching being viewed as a credible option, McGinley has turned to the media in recent years in a quest to stay acquainted with the game he loves.
Since joining Sky Sports in 2013, the Dubliner has become an integral part of the broadcaster’s golf coverage in the UK, oering clear and bold opinions on the state of the game, and of players’ mental abilities and personalities rather than the all too common swing observations.
Intriguingly, the platform to analyse alongside the likes of Butch Harmon, Rich Beem, Wayne Riley and others, has allowed him to become more educated on the sport and learn more about the nuances of the game, which, in turn, has led to an improved relationship with playing golf in his later years, something you don’t often hear from older golfers.
“Yes, I enjoy golf even more so now as I understand the game better and I understand my own game better,” says McGinley. “Certainly, my role with Sky has given me a more rounded perspective. I really enjoy it. I work with a great and very professional team. It’s long hours and a lot of prep work but working in TV has been a huge learning experience for me, because there is so much involved.”
Clearly, McGinley’s media work has instigated him to think more about the sport and, in doing so, he has been made to look back at his own mistakes but also reflect over how golf has developed since he turned professional. It was in 1991 when McGinley started his career and, since then, there has no doubt been huge changes in the sport.
With the bulging biceps of Brooks Koepka and Tiger Woods, and the array of performance coaches and psychologists involved with the game now, you would think that psychology and fitness is the biggest dierence he has seen in golf in the last 30 years. However, on the contrary, McGinley believes it is huge hitting which has become most significant over the last three decades.
“No, it’s big hitting which is prominent now,” he says. “Training is more specific and it’s very dicult to achieve a high level in the modern game unless you have a power game. My game was never based on power, it was more on ball control.
“I worry about the state of the current game at the elite level – due to the dominance of power players. For me, golf is more a combination of power and skill and these factors are not balanced anymore as power has become more important than skill.”
With the game’s most historical courses like St Andrews being overpowered by modern players, it’s easy to see why McGinley believes the sport’s hierarchies need to have a hard look at themselves. As he says, his own game was based primarily on skill and that must leave him with doubts about whether he would be able to compete eectively into today’s power era.
Of course, modern technology and the golf ball is just one matter in a whole host of issues facing golf right now. Another being the relationship between the European Tour and the PGA Tour. As somebody who trailblazed European golf and now works on both tours for Sky Sports, it seems pertinent to ask McGinley about the balance of golfing power in the world at the moment and whether he thinks reoccurring rumours of a ‘World Tour’ have much substance.
“I think a World Tour is inevitable but it’s a way o yet,” says McGinley. “The PGA Tour in America have got some huge advantages over Europe from a financial point of view but certainly the players on the European Tour are as good, if not better, than the PGA Tour’s, as is exemplified in our massive Ryder Cup success as well as major champions in the last decade.”
McGinley’s unmoving passion and backing for European golf is easily anticipated. After all, most of the happiness in his career has come representing the continent in battle with the US. As Ryder Cup captain in 2014, he became the first Irishman to ever lead Europe and, in his commitment, changed the way the captaincy is approached forever. Growing up and during his golfing career, his experience of playing in team environments prepared him excellently for the demands of managing a European side to victory and it’s this he is now most remembered for.
Unlike other losing captains such as Nick Faldo, McGinley’s lack of individual achievements meant that throughout his career the Ryder Cup and winning as part of a team has become so important for him to fill the void left by the dearth of personal triumphs and accolades. Now working in the media, McGinley seems content with a less pressured life and being involved with golf mainly from outside the ropes rather than inside.
While he regrets not winning more, he will have to find solace in that his friend and compatriot, Harrington - this year’s European captain - and those after him, will be taking many of the pages from his Ryder Cup play book of 2014 as they try to emulate his legacy.