European skipper, Sam Torrance, extended an enthusiastic welcome last night to Paul McGinley as a prospective member of his Ryder Cup team. And he has already decided the newly-crowned Wales Open champion will be paired with Padraig Harrington against the Americans at The Belfry next month.
"I've had this chalked in for more than a month and I'm delighted it now seems to be certain," said Torrance. "Though it's obviously possible, it would be very difficult for Paul to drop out of the top 10. Parnevik and Garcia would have to win. I think he's in."
Was the Scot an admirer of McGinley? "Oh definitely," replied Torrance. "He'll be a great partner for Padraig. They won the World Cup together and it's not often you can call on a partnership like that. They'll make a great team."
If everything turns out as Torrance is predicting, McGinley and Harrington will become the first all-Irish partnership in the Ryder Cup in 26 years. The last time it happened was at Laurel Valley in 1975, when there were two separate Irish pairings.
Christy O'Connor Jnr and Eamonn Darcy lost a fourball match to Tom Weiskopf and Lou Graham on the opening day and in the last series of foursomes matches, O'Connor and John O'Leary lost to the formidable pairing of Weiskopf and Johnny Miller. Interestingly, that was also the only occasion that Ireland had three representatives in the side.
Harrington and McGinley were colleagues in the Ireland team for the Home Internationals at Conwy in 1990. But they didn't come together as a foursomes pairing until the Walker Cup at Portmarnock in 1991, when they lost to Jay Sigel and Allan Doyle on the opening day.
But they reaped a rich harvest as a pair in professional ranks. In their first appearance together in the World Cup, they captured the title at Kiawah Island in 1997; were sixth in New Zealand the following year and finished third in the final staging under the old format in Kuala Lumpur in 1999. Harrington played two foursomes matches with Miguel Angel Jimenez at Brookline two years ago, when they halved with Davis Love and the late Payne Stewart on the opening day.
