PAUL McGINLEY was at The K Club yesterday (see photograph: page 22), arranging part of his gallery for a forthcoming appearance in the US Open. The process involved his accuracy with 60 yard sandwedge shots and at the end of it all there were II delighted winners of a trip to the US event.
It came about through a decision by Aer Lingus to reward certain of their Gold Circle members. From a total of around 20,000, a select 30 names were drawn, each of whom was presented with a golden golf ball, carrying their name.
McGinley was then given the task of hitting those 30 balls to a target. The 10 closest to the pin, ranging from 16 to 62 inches, qualified the `owners' for the trip to the US Open at The Congressional, near Washington, on June 12th to 15th.
They were: Michael Carey, Paul Butler, Dermot O'Brien, David Nowak, Eddie O'Shea, Fr J Corbett, James Moore, Alan Russo, Peter Nolan and Damien O'Malley.
In a special draw among the remaining 20, Con O'Grady's name came out of the hat. All 11 will receive return transatlantic flights to the US Open plus five nights' accommodation.
"It was terrific fun and, needless to say, I tried my best on every shot," said McGinley afterwards. The conditions were difficult and windy.
Fellow European campaigners, Philip Walton, Des Smyth, Raymond Burns and Eamonn Darcy were also present, having joined the contestants in a round of golf before McGinley's challenge.
All the professionals will be in action later this week in the Alamo English Open at Hanbury Manor where they will be joined by Ronan Rafferty, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Christy O'Connor Jnr and David Higgins. It is a particularly important event for Clarke, as a buildup to his appearance in the Andersen Consulting World Championship at The Buckinghamshire on Monday.
Meanwhile, McGinley is determined not to be panicked into a desperate attempt at improving his position in the European Ryder Cup standings. "There's no way I'll be doing 10 or 12 tournaments in a row," he said. "My maximum will be four. That's the schedule I worked out at the start of the year and I intend to stick to it."
He went on: "I'm playing well but I've got to be patient. And I know that worrying about the Ryder Cup is not going to help. So I intend to put it out of my mind. If I produce the right results, everything will fall into place."
The broomhandle putter received emphatic endorsements on both sides of the Atlantic over the weekend. While Bernhard Langer was winning for a second successive week, Scott McCarron used it to splendid effect when capturing the Bell South Classic at the Sugarloaf course in Duluth, Georgia.
