Adare Manor Diary

A look at the open in brief

McGinley on track

If the horses for courses theory works out, Paul McGinley wouldn't mind at all. The Dubliner won the Irish PGA at Adare Manor in 2004 and yesterday shot an opening round 72 that put him at the forefront in leading the home challenge.

McGinley has received some ribbing from his fellow pros on the range and in the locker-room about the perception - or misconception, as he would see it - that he was responsible for adding the extra yards to the course, which has made it one of the longest on the European Tour's schedule.

"It's horses for courses in professional golf, it's always been . . . and the onus here is on hitting fairways, which obviously suits me better than it would if it was a big, wide, open golf course. Having said that, I had nothing to do with the set-up. I've discussed it with nobody, and I know nothing about it. I didn't realise how bad the rough would be until I got down here," insisted McGinley.

Still, McGinley could see the two sides of the argument in setting the course up this way. Is it too difficult for an Irish Open? "Well, there's two arguments. There is one argument saying the fans will come down to see players making birdies and eagles like in the JP McManus Pro-Am (in 2005) and, then, you have the second argument to say, well, we've won the Ryder Cup the last few times, we have good players (on tour) and we're not winning majors and why is that? We very rarely play golf courses that are set up like a US major, a PGA or a US Open.

"I think a lot of the reasons for us not winning major championships is that we don't play golf courses that are difficult enough.

"And that's a very, very valid argument as well."

Whatever about the moaning from some quarters that the course is too tough, McGinley wasn't one of them. "I get a lot of pleasure out of battling, and that was a battle. In a way, I quite enjoyed it. Would I prefer to have a tournament where 22, 23, 24-under wins like in Germany, or a tournament where level par is winning? Me, personally, I prefer level par."

Singh on song

Jeev Milka Singh showed a handy touch with an iron in his hands when holing out with his approach on the 15th for an eagle two. The Indian's sand wedge from 97 yards prompted a session of high-fives in the middle of the fairway with playing partners Notah Begay III and Simon Dyson . . . although Singh probably wished the accuracy had come on the following hole, the par-three 16th where an Audi A5 coupé is on offer to the first professional to get a hole in one.

Hothead Hoey

"I had a fit of the head staggers," said Michael Hoey of the incident on the second hole which caused him a two-shot penalty. Hoey left his ball in a greenside bunker with his first attempt and instinctively reacted by hitting the sand with his club. It was an unwise move, resulting in the penalty that made him sign for a triple-bogey seven on the hole. Hoey finished with an opening round 80, eight over.

Probyn goes soft

Tournament director David Probyn wasn't taking any chances with the length of the course, moving forward the tees on all 18 holes for yesterday's first round which meant the Adare Manor course was reduced by a total of 246 yards.

The biggest change came to the par- three 11th hole, where the tee was moved forward by 54 yards which reduced the hole to 189 yards. The 16th, though, was only moved forward by one yard . . . just in case players thought he had gone too soft on them!