Paul McGinley isn't quite prepared to uproot his family from their home in the stockbrocker belt of Berkshire and move to the United States, but the upwardly mobile Dubliner - who effectively secured his Ryder Cup place with a top-30 finish in the US PGA at Atlanta Athletic Club yesterday - anticipates that his future golf plans will involve more transatlantic flights to take in extra tournaments on the US Tour.
"I'd like to see myself playing perhaps 10 to 15 tournaments here a year, based around the majors," said McGinley, who closed with a finishing 67 - featuring a hat-trick of birdies over the closing three holes, one of the hardest stretches in world golf - for a two-under-par 72-holes total of 278. It was the first time that McGinley had managed to survive the cut in a major in the US, and the manner in which he achieved it reflected how much the player has grown in confidence.
While some potential Ryder Cup team-mates were moving backwards, McGinley yesterday advanced in the right direction. And, in moving over the self-imposed million points mark in the Ryder Cup qualifying campaign, McGinley, who competes in the $5million WGC-NEC in Akron this week where there is a limited field and no cut, is as close to mathematically certain to make the team as it is possible to get.
"I'm over the million and that was my goal at the start of the season. Whether it's the right number or not remains to be seen, but I want to get as many points as I can. I remember what happened to Eamonn Darcy when he missed out by something like £50 a nd I don't want that to happen to me," said McGinley, who is hoping to be in a position after Akron which would mean he can stay home and put his feet up the week of the BMW International in Munich.
Certainly, his play over the weekend proved that he has the temperament to play at a higher level. Stewart Cink, his playing partner for the final two rounds, remarked: "I was very impressed with Paul. Technically, I suppose, this was the first time we had met, the first time that we shook hands. But I certainly knew about him and he played very well. I wouldn't mind playing with him again at the Belfry, he's a nice guy, and there wouldn't be animosity between us."
McGinley, for once, was ebullient with his finish. "That's almost as good as I can play, to be honest," he remarked. Indeed, the finish was as hot as the weather. He chipped-in from 15 feet for birdie on the 16th; holed a 35-footer for birdie on the 17th , and then finished off with one of the few birdies on the tough finishing hole.
There, he played a three-wood off the tee - which left him some 40 yards behind playing partner Cink - and, with 243 yards to the flag, his five-wood approach pitched inches from the cup and rolled 15 feet past. McGinley rolled in the putt, and received a spine-tingling reception from the spectators in the grandstand.
"Unbelievable," he said of the reception, "but that's what we work so hard for. I've really enjoyed the week, and it has convinced me that I need to play more over here.
"The greens are faster here than they are on the European Tour and the rough also takes a bit of getting used to. You simply have to play more golf in such conditions to get accustomed to them, but once I get my short game adjusted to these conditions then I feel that I can move on even more," he insisted.
