RETURNING to Ireland just a couple of days after he and his Ryder Cup team-mates had been borne away from it, Paul McGinley found his country much as he had left it. As he walked out of the arrivals hall at Dublin airport, he was confronted by long advertising slogans featuring Padraig Harrington and the Ryder Cup.

He smiled wryly and remembered that when he had flicked through the in-flight magazine, it had been full of stories about the Ryder Cup. As he left the capital, he saw bus after bus with Harrington’s grinning mug on the side.

McGinley sped south for 30 miles, to Macreddin golf club, where he is designing a course in a hidden valley, a layout that has just become one of the PGA European Tour Courses.

Once there, he pulled on his boots and went out to see how it was looking, what greens required more shaping or reseeding, how the tees were positioned, what sort of tee furniture would be needed.

But it was not long before conversation turned to Europe’s record-equalling 18½-9½ victory. McGinley was one of six men who had appeared in Europe’s colours in 2002, 2004 and 2006 and, in his view, the latest was the most special. “I thought 2002 was unbeatable but last week was the highlight of my career,” he said. “Last week was a deeper sort of satisfaction. In 2002 when I holed that putt, it was out of the blue, an explosion of excitement that the golfing gods were looking down on me, that I was the one who holed the winning putt.

“This time there was a real sense of pride for me as an Irishman. Imagine what the atmosphere would have been like if it had been a finish like it was in 2002, when it was down to the last match. For me to be the first Irishman on the 1st tee on Sunday afternoon, when I walked around the corner and the crowd saw me, it was unbelievable.

“All teams need a good spine. Look at Chelsea, England in the World Cup. The spine of ours was so strong. Sergio [García], Lee [Westwood], Darren [Clarke], Monty [Colin Montgomerie]. These guys won the big points. Three of them won 11 points.

“The rest of us needed only 3½ more points to win. They were the big players. I think Sam [Torrance, the Europe captain in 2002] had the toughest hand of the three captains I have played under because he did not have so many in-form players. But Woosie [Ian Woossnam] was very ballsy. He took a lot of gutsy decisions like leaving Luke [Donald] out of the Friday morning four-balls.”



McGinley was asked whether he knew that Europe had become the first side in the modern era to win all five series. “No,” he replied. “It was a big goal going into Sunday to win the singles. Woosie told us that on Saturday. ‘Win tomorrow, lads. Make sure you win tomorrow,’ he said. “But I wasn’t aware it had never been done before.”

Equally, McGinley continued, he was unaware when he conceded his half-point in the singles to J. J. Henry that he was giving up the chance of Europe setting a record margin of victory. “There have been negative e-mails to my website as a result,” he said. “But I am glad I did it and I stand by my decision.

“I thought it was the sporting thing to do. The goals of the day were to win the series and win the Ryder Cup and both had been achieved. I had rolled my putt down to six inches, so J. J. had this 25-footer for a half and that was when I saw the streaker. I pointed at him and said: ‘Don’t run on his line.’ I was not thinking of giving J. J. a half when I said that.

“But then I thought that we had achieved our goals and me being an Irishman, I didn’t want any accusations of bad sportsmanship. All these things went through my mind very quickly and I thought, ‘let’s call it a half’. If it had been a team call, I wouldn’t have given him the putt. I thought at that moment I was playing for Paul McGinley, not for the team because our goals had been achieved. My personal record is not important to me, so long as I am part of a winning team. This clown running around made me make up my mind.”

When the conversation turned to the Americans and what had gone wrong with their team, McGinley’s dark eyes darkened. “The issue is always what the Americans are doing wrong?” he said, wearily and surprisingly forcibly. “I don’t think they lost because Tiger (Woods) and (Phil) Mickelson played rubbish. They lost because we played better. Nobody seems to think, ‘Jesus Christ, fair play, the Americans were just totally outplayed by the Europeans’.

“The Europeans raised their games two notches and just flat-out outplayed them. Because we raised our games, won the first series, got momentum going, they got demoralised. They lost because we played better and because we played better, we demoralised them.”

No discussion about the Ryder Cup is finished until Clarke’s name has been mentioned. “He is a better person for what has happened to him,” McGinley said of his former next-door neighbour. “He has come out the other side a more understanding, compassionate person.

“He is more appreciative of what he has and he is all his two boys have. He’s through the Ryder Cup now and everybody thinks things are great, the grieving process is over and all that. The Ryder Cup has been something to get him through the last two months, but he’s going to have tough days ahead, believe me.”