Tour Scene: Paul McGinley has decided that, rather than delay the inevitable any further, a surgeon's scalpel this week is the more preferable route in his quest to break into the world's top 64 and so secure a place in next February's Accenture world matchplay.

Instead of jetting off to China yesterday for the start of the 2005 PGA European Tour, the Dubliner instead confirmed an appointment for Thursday morning that will see him undergo surgery in London to remove carbon fibre from his left knee. He will be out of action for at least eight weeks.

Having weighed up the pros and cons of playing in this week's China Open in Shanghai - a co-sanctioned tournament that is the season-opener to the 2005 PGA European Tour schedule - and next week's Hong Kong Open, McGinley decided it would be best to undergo the necessary surgery and then aim to get back playing again for early-February, when the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the US Tour will mark his return to competitive play.

"I know I've unfinished business left this season," he reiterated yesterday, "but I believe this is my best chance of getting back into the world's top 64. There aren't as many world ranking points on offer in China as there will be for the early-season tournaments that I now plan to play in early in the year."

The cut-off point for the Accenture comes a week ahead of the WGC championship and is limited to 64 players who earn their places in the field based on the world rankings. McGinley, who underwent surgery on his right knee last April which kept him out of action for six weeks, before he launched a successful bid to retain his place on Europe's Ryder Cup team, has been told the recuperation process will be from six to eight weeks, but that the longer time frame should be expected.

The requirement for this surgery dates from a cyst on his left knee, the result of an old Gaelic footballing injury that was sustained while training for Ballyboden St Enda's.

"I can still remember the night it happened but didn't realise at the time the extent of the injury," recalled McGinley of an incident that was to change his sporting destiny away from football towards golf due to the injury.

As he showed in last September's Ryder Cup - and the build-up to Oakland Hills, where his sixth placed finish in the US PGA represented his best career finish in a major - and last week's World Cup, where he partnered Padraig Harrington to third place, McGinley has been able to play through the injury.

But the advice from his surgeon was that it was an operation that was required and the player has taken the view it is best to get it over now and then focus fully on the 2005 season.

"I've been told my level of fitness is such that I should recover well from the surgery because my muscles around the knee are so well developed," said McGinley, an early advocate of the benefits of physical training and gym work in preparation for life on the professional golf circuit.

"With my fitness and the accompanying physiotherapy, I should be okay for the AT&T. I may even consider coming back a little earlier for the South African Open. I'll assess the situation closer to the time."

While McGinley, who remains 67th in the world, faces the prospect of a second trip of the year to the surgeon's blade, his World Cup partner Harrington faces into an end-of-season odyssey that has taken him to Asia for the next two weeks and then on to the US for the Target World Challenge, which brings an end to his season's work.

Harrington, who has moved up two places ahead of Mike Weir and Davis Love to sixth in the latest world rankings, is the highest ranked player in the 60-man field for this week's Shinhan Korea Championship.

The event is sanctioned by the US PGA Tour and has $4 million in prize money, with $1 million to the winner.

Others competing include KJ Choi, Frank Lichliter and Mark Calcavecchia.

"I've got plenty to work on," said Harrington as he faces into the season-ending challenge tournaments before a nine-week winter break, "but I'm happy with what I'm doing. I'm very happy about where I am going. I'm very comfortable."

While Harrington is one of the star attractions in Korea this week (behind, of course, local hero Choi), he then heads on to defend his title in the Omega Hong Kong Championship next week.

Darren Clarke - who remains at 12th in the latest world rankings - is one of those teeing up in the Nelson Mandela Invitational this week, a 36-hole tournament at the spectacular Arabella Golf Club near Cape Town, one of this year's venues for the Musgrave Crumlin Children's Hospital All Ireland club championships.