Paul McGinley's fear of ring-rust ahead of next month's World Cup in Barbados has led him to add the UBS Hong Kong Open in Fanling this week to his schedule. The move was forced on the Dubliner after his failure to earn a special exemption into last week's Champions Tournament in Shanghai, the first official counting event on the 2007 European Tour schedule.
"I desperately wanted to play in Shanghai," admitted McGinley, who had sought an invitation on the basis he was the only Ryder Cup player not exempt who wanted to play and that the closing date in September was the week he fell out of the world's top-50 (to 52nd) for the first time all year. He is 57th in the latest official rankings.
McGinley has committed to partnering Padraig Harrington for the 11th consecutive year in the World Cup at the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados on December 7th to 10th (where no fewer than eight players who competed in this year's Ryder Cup will be in action) and, although the one-week trip to Hong Kong is a big undertaking for one tournament, the player felt it was a necessary one to "keep my hand in competitively".
Although his last outing came in the season-ending Volvo Masters, where he tied-18th to follow up on his sixth place finish in the previous week's Mallorca Classic, McGinley, who spent last week practising at home, ahead of the World Cup in Barbados where the likes of Luke Donald and David Howell for England, Stewart Cink and JJ Henry for the United States, and Henrik Stenson and Carl Petterson for Sweden, will be among the opponents.
While he was part of the successful European team in the Ryder Cup at The K Club, McGinley - who has four European Tour titles to his name since moving into the paid ranks in 1992 - generally endured a tough year, which included knee surgery in May and slipping from 21st in the world rankings at the start of the year to his current 57th.
It will be McGinley's first visit to Hong Kong to play at Fanling since 2001. Colin Montgomerie defends his title in a field that also includes Retief Goosen, Michael Campbell, Johan Edfors and recent Volvo Masters champion Jeev Milka Singh. McGinley is one of four Irish players in the field, alongside Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane and Gary Murphy. Lawrie and McGrane will continue their global odyssey next week by playing in Australia.
The other half of Ireland's World Cup pairing is also continuing to cross time zones. Harrington, who finished tied-sixth in the Champions tournament in Shanghai, which was won by South Korea's Yang Yong-eun, is making his debut in the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan, where Tiger Woods will be defending his title.
Harrington, who remains 11th in the latest official world rankings, but has closed the gap on 10th-placed Geoff Ogilvy who is competing in the Australian Open in Sydney this week, is one of a number of European players competing in the limited-field Japanese tournament. David Howell, Ian Poulter and Justin Rose are also playing.
The globe-trotting itinerary of Harrington over the coming weeks is such that he will return briefly from Japan before heading off to South Africa to play in the Nedbank challenge in Sun City, followed by the World Cup in Barbados and, finally, finish off his year's work by playing in the Target World Challenge in California.
Incidentally, Darren Clarke, who failed in his bit to defend his title at the Visa Masters in Taiheiyo last week, has decided to play in the Australian PGA championship in Queensland next month before heading on to the Target World Challenge, promoted by Tiger Woods, in California.
