After anxiously heading off to his hotel room where he room to munch on some oatmeal cookies Paul McGinley headed downstairs to find himself being appointed the 2014 European Ryder Cup captain.
Players Committee chairman, Thomas Bjorn revealed the names of five players – the Scottish trio of Sandy Lyle, Paul Lawrie and Colin Montogemerie along with Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez – who were all considered by the 12-man committee.
However it was McGinley’s name emerging on top of the voting deep within the St. Regis Hotel in Abu Dhabi.
So with the Committee views strong in McGinley’s favour he was asked to leave the room, so McGinley returned to his room on the seventh floor of the hotel where he phoned fellow Irishman Shane Lowry and McGinley’s younger brother, Michael to join him.
Gleneagles captain Paul McGinley proudly holds aloft the Ryder Cup. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
“I went to my room where I had a couple of oatmeal cookies and a bottle of water and watched the time go by very slowly I have to say,” he said.
“But I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to accept this honour to lead the European Team and obviously the strongest set of players we have had in the history of the European Tour, so to be leading the cream of the crop into a Ryder Cup is a huge honour
“To be quite honest it is a very humbling experience to be sitting here as the new European Captain and I am really looking forward to the whole of experience as captain.
“I have been there many times as a player and also as a vice-captain and I am really looking forward to this opportunity.”
McGinley said he’s proudly contested all 14 events stage on the 2014 Ryder Cup Centennary course at Gleneages.
Tour CEO George O’Grady, who sat in on the decision process, remarked on McGinley’s appointment
“It’s a wonderful achievement for PaulRy and reflects his great service to the European Tour,” said O’Grady.
“His standard of leadership in the Vivendi Seve Trophy and the standard of his character.”
Unlike, Monty and also Darren Clarke, McGinley had purposely remained ‘low-profile’ in the lead-up to the captaincy decision and he says it’s something that has now worked in his great favour.
“I watched, just because I watch, it’s amazing what you can learn when you listen and don’t talk and that’s what’s happened,” said McGinley
“I felt I had the support of the players. I thought my hand was very strong to be the captain and if it was meant to be, it was meant to be and I felt that the more I would say, the more my chances would lessen.
“And I felt that it was the right thing to do.
“I read and followed every word that went down the last few weeks, I have to say, and watched with interest.
“And like a yo‑yo, my chances seemed to go up and down and up and down. But I’m obviously very pleased to be in this situation, and I thought that I’ve had a really good apprenticeships in two Vivendi Seve Trophies and this is a position that I’m really, really thrilled to be in.”
Monty was among the first to shake McGinley’s hand while one of the first formal messages of congratulations was from boyhood idol and now 2014 USA rival captain, Tom Watson.
” I congratulate Paul McGinley upon his selection as the next European Ryder Cup Captain and anticipate that his passion and love of the event will transfer to being an outstanding leader of his team in 2014 at Gleneagles,” said the 63-year old eight-time Major winning Watson.
“Paul has been connected to four winning European Ryder Cup Teams and is an outstanding representative of European golf. I look forward to sharing the stage with him as we make our journey to Scotland.”
