GOLF: Paul McGinley's fine joint-second-place finish in the KLM Dutch Open at Hilversum yesterday has taken him past his Irish compatriot Graeme McDowell into 14th place in the combined Ryder Cup table.
McGinley shot a final round of 65 for a 13-under-par total of 267, three shots behind first-time winner David Lynn of England and level with overnight leader Richard Green of Australia.
The Dubliner, who sank the winning putt in the 2002 Ryder Cup, was delighted he decided to play the tournament, in which he left two of his rivals for Cup places, England's Ian Poulter and David Howell, in his wake.
"I want desperately to be in that Ryder Cup team, I feel I'm playing well enough to be in it and I will keep chasing," said McGinley, like his rivals moving on this week to the US PGA Championship in Wisconsin.
A triple-bogey on the short 13th ended Poulter's hopes of moving above Howell, who closed with a 67 to finish in seventh spot in the Ryder Cup table. Poulter stayed eighth.
The top 10 in the combined World and European points lists gain automatic qualification into Bernhard Langer's European team for next month's match against the US.
McGinley's joint-second finish equated to 104,225 very useful points towards his bid to make the team for Oakland Hills. The Dubliner was out of the blocks quickly with birdies at the second and third, but his chance of victory went when he bogeyed the par-three 15th.
McDowell rallied with a 67 to finish nine shots behind Lynn.
His round included an eagle three at the 12th to go with birdies at the second, 11th and 18th and only two bogeys, the sixth and eighth. "It was a bit of a disappointment that I didn't quite do what I wanted to do but today was a case of what could have been," he said.
"But I was happy with the way I handled things today. It was good to have another solid Sunday."
Poulter, who started the day five under, finished on the same mark after a par-70 round that included an eagle, four birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey six. Howell saved his best round of the week until last with a 67 to finish two under.
WORLD POINTS LIST
1 P Harrington (Ire) 232.09
2 S Garcia (Spn) 219.10
3 D Clarke (N Ire) 174.51
4 MA Jiménez (Spn) 166.55
5 L Westwood (Eng) 143.72
6 T Levet (Fra) 133.64
7 F Jacobson (Swe) 128.66
8 P Casey (Eng) 117.84
9 J Haeggman (Swe) 106.95
10 L Donald (Eng) 104.62
11 I Poulter (Eng) 104.23
12 D Howell (Eng) 101.23
13 T Björn (Den) 89.32
14 B Davis (Eng) 87.84
15 R Jacquelin (Fra) 86.53
16 J Rose (Eng) 79.79
17 P McGinley (Ire) 76.89
EUROPEAN POINTS LIST
1 L Westwood (Eng) 1,565,797.68
2 MA Jiménez (Spn) 1,520,367.88
3 D Clarke (N Ire) 1,364,954.31
4 T Levet (Fra) 1,309,459.62
5 P Harrington (Ire) 1,303,008.06
6 P Casey (Eng) 1,144,066.50
7 D Howell (Eng) 1,118,807.18
8 I Poulter (Eng) 1,097,887.34
9 J Haeggman (Swe) 1,018,136.22
10 J-F Remesy (Fra) 993,891.85
11 F Jacobson (Swe) 933,936.14
12 R Jacquelin (Fra) 931,791.05
13 B Davis (Eng) 929,741.16
14 P McGinley (Ire) 909,214.23
15 G McDowell (N Ire) 845,778.07
