McGinley hangs on to win the hard way

There are hard ways and easy ways to win a golf tournament. Paul McGinley, living on the edge, chose the tougher route in annexing the Smurfit Irish PGA Championship at Fota Island yesterday. The look of relief on his face when he rolled his 285th shot into the 72nd hole masked whatever inner delight he may have felt.

"I was lucky enough," conceded McGinley, who had a final round 74 for three-under-par 285. Yet, what should have been a relaxed weekend developed into a searching examination and, in the end, the Dubliner - claiming the title for the first time - had a mere shot to spare over Stephen Hamill, David Higgins and John McHenry.

Indeed, McGinley, who had been three shots clear of the field after 36 holes, had to dig deep over the finishing stretch. With seven holes to play in the final round, Hamill had actually moved two shots clear. But the Ulsterman bogeyed four of the remaining holes and admitted: "We were throwing shots at each other."

"Quite simply, I didn't perform at all over the weekend," said McGinley, who could only muster three birdies in the last 36 holes in rounds of 75 and 74.

"My short game just went. If I had to award marks for it, I'd only give myself four out of ten. I don't know what happened. On Saturday I probably played too conservatively, but today I played aggressive, attacking golf. So, with two different philosophies, I still couldn't get it right."

The matchplay-like battle between McGinley and Hamill threatened to allow someone else to sneak in. "Luckily no one came through," said McGinley. But there were brave attempts. Higgins and McHenry shot final round 69s to eventually tie with Hamill in second place - but Higgins, particularly, had mixed feelings.

The Waterville professional lost his ball off the tee on the final hole, but conjured up a wonderful "eagle" with his second ball, for a par five, hitting a three-wood approach to 30 feet and rolling in the putt, down the vicious slope, which even prompted his playing partner Des Smyth to join the applause of the gallery.

The initial tee-shot left Higgins baffled. "I couldn't believe I lost it. I was trying to draw the ball around the tree but hit it too straight," he explained.

With Higgins and McHenry - both getting timely confidence boosts in their respective attempts to retain their tour cards at next month's Qualifying School in San Roque and Guadalmina in southern Spain - in the clubhouse on twounder-par, the focus returned to the head-to-head between McGinley and Hamill.

The 16th hole proved critical. McGinley sank a 25-footer for birdie, but Hamill's four-iron approach pitched into the slope and rolled back down to the front of the green from where he three-putted for a bogey. A two-shot swing and a two-shot lead for McGinley (who'd drawn level when Hamill bogeyed the 14th).

But McGinley bogeyed the 17th to be one up playing the 18th, "a really intimidating hole", according to McHenry. McGinley had a stroke of fortune when his tee-shot hit trees but rebounded to a good lie, and a regulation par was sufficient to give him the title.