Paul McGinley was sitting with his family at the London Olympic Stadium enjoying the Closing Ceremony when he received a phone call from Jose Maria Olazabal offering him a vice-captaincy role at next month’s Ryder Cup.
McGinley’s appointment for a second Ryder Cup running is now seen by many observers as the forerunner to the Dubliner being named early next year as successor to Olazabal.
However while McGinley will do all he can to help Olazabal in Chicago he says the euphoria generated by the 2012 Olympics can help Europe in retaining the Ryder Cup in the sports mad environment of Chicago.
“I couldn’t believe it when Ollie called because here I was sitting watching the Closing Ceremony but also thought to myself how timely was his call,” said McGinley.
Paul McGinley now on the lookout for 2014 Ryder Cup captaincy. (Photo - Stuart Adams/www.golffile.ie)
“I spent a fortune on the Olympic tickets for all the family but the Ryder Cup has to be right up there with the Olympics.
“I was a bit sceptical about the Olympics but having been present in London it just blew me away.
“While the Ryder Cup is going to be a really, really tight I think we are going to be in for a great week if we can somehow get close to matching the Olympics it will be great.”
McGinley believes Europe’s increasing ‘affinity’ now with the PGA Tour will lead also to a lot less ‘hostile’ environment when the European Team arrives at Medinah.
It will mean Olazabal’s side not having to go on the ‘charm’ offensive as was the edict under Bernhard Langer’s 2004 captaincy at Oakland Hills.
“European players are a lot more familiar to the American public now than they would have been back in 2004 when I played in the Ryder Cup,” said McGinley.
“There’s just so many of us playing on the PGA Tour now, so there’s an affinity between the American crowd now.
“So the charm offensive will probably not be necessary.
“But then I enjoyed playing in Detroit, which was a hostile environment, but then in a lot of ways, of the three Ryder Cups I’ve played, that one away from home was the one I enjoyed the most, in terms of the crowd.”
However the big boost in Europe’s goal of bringing home the gleaming gold trophy was recent efforts of Rory McIlroy in capturing the PGA Championship and Sergio Garcia capturing last week’s Wyndham Championship.
“Psychologically, it was big for our team and also a bit of a blow for the Americans in seeing us returning to form,” said McGinley.
“Also seeing Rory cement his place at No. 1 in the world, and then Sergio winning last week was phenomenal.
“We lost a bit of momentum to the Americans over the summer but if you look at the top 24 players in the world, it ebbs and flows. It’s shifting sands the whole time.”
