Just beside the 16th green, on one of the more elevated parts of the Highlands course, a scoreboard attendant diligently attached letters that revealed the name "MCGINLEY", all black capital letters on a white background and hard to miss. Then she stuck the red number "4" alongside it, and - for the moment - the Irishman was back as joint leader of the US PGA championship.

Eyes in the bleachers and on the hillside watched the woman at work under the mid-day sun. "I'd like to know who that guy is," said a nearby spectator in a heavy southern accent as the name unravelled, proof that Paul McGinley - Wales Open winner and a Ryder Cup likely lad - still has to crack the American market.

"I didn't get too excited when I saw my name there," he later confessed, "because I knew how hard the stretch ahead was. They're extremely difficult holes with difficult pin positions." How right he was, as after two bogeys over the last three holes he was to sign for a two-under-par 68.

"It's a missed chance but I am still happy with that score. It is very much a case of give and take out there, and everyone is going to drop shots. It's a balancing act and you take what you can," he said.

McGinley's body language, though, indicated a man pleased with his day's work, particularly as he also has one eye on the Ryder Cup situation. "I have definitely got a lot more confidence in myself. The difference between winning in Wales and second, in terms of points, was huge and the win has lifted my spirits. But I see it only as a stepping stone as far as my golf career is concerned," he said.

Although there is a mathematical chance that McGinley can still miss out on a Ryder Cup debut at the Belfry next month, it would take some bizarre twists and turns for that to happen. And, in fact, Europe's captain Sam Torrance has already made the congratulatory call to him. "Sam had been leaving messages on my answer machine and each one got a little more abusive because he couldn't reach me. But when I got back to him he told me how pleased he was that I had finished the job and played my way onto the team."

The dew was heavy on the ground and the sky overcast when McGinley was in the first group to tee-off yesterday, and a drive down the middle of the fairway and a nine-iron approach to four feet set up an opening hole birdie.

He added further birdies at the fifth and sixth (where he holed a 20-footer) to move to three-under and, although he bogeyed the 10th where he pulled his drive into a fairway bunker, birdies at the 13th and 14th moved him to four-under par and into a share of the lead.

However, he was to drop a shot on the 16th, where his tee-shot clipped one of the giant pine trees and left him with a difficult approach shot and, then, on the 17th, he went with a six-iron that fell marginally short of the lake wall and dived into the water.

But McGinley is still where he wants to be, very much in the thick of the hunt.