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Paul McGinley is well placed to study the golf landscape that 2020 has so dramatically sculpted.
The Dubliner, currently a member of the European Tour board, won four titles on the tour, participated in the Ryder Cup three times as a player, was captain of Europe to victory in 2014 and twice served as vice captain.
Now he looks at the game with an analyst’s eyes, although he has the enthusiasm of a fan, particularly when it comes to the progress his compatriots are making.
McGinley reflected on a year like no other in a long and extensive interview with RTÉ’s Saturday Sport, and began by praising the organizing bodies for making sure the sport survived the enormous challenges posed by Covid-19.
“There is no question that golf did incredibly well under very difficult circumstances, particularly in the United States,” he said.
“We are very lucky compared to many sports. I mean, the American tour is a very, very rich organization. There is a lot of money in the coffers and they used that money to support the tour throughout the year.
“All the tournaments in the United States, after the initial rescheduling, were very successful.
“In Europe we had to reduce a lot. We have a much different business plan here. We did not have the financial resources to be able to put [prize] money, so we had to cut things down a lot, the Irish Open being one [example].
“But still, getting the tournaments to be played and meeting our obligations to television in particular was a great achievement of the European Tour.”
So what about the Irish Open? This year’s edition was originally scheduled for last May on Mount Julliet in Kilkenny, but ended up being moved to Galgorm Castle in Co Antrim in September.
Although it is no longer part of the Rolex Series, meaning that the prize money has dropped significantly, and this year it lacked the kind of star power it has enjoyed in the past, McGinley refused to be sad about the long-term future. tournament term. .
“The Irish Open will always be good,” he said. “It is important that we do not consider the success of the Irish Open based on who plays it.
“Yes, it is important to have a field as strong as we have always had it … and we are very lucky that Rory [McIlroy] and shane [Lowry] overall, they are very supportive of the Irish Open, as Padraig [Harrington] he’s always done it too … that’s really important to the Irish Open, but it’s also important that we don’t define our success by who plays and who doesn’t. We organize a great event year after year. “
The November announcement of a “strategic alliance” between the European Tour and the PGA Tour will help, McGinley added.
The deal will make the two courses work more closely commercially and in terms of scheduling, with some perceived as a direct response to the Premier Golf League proposal, which was aimed at attracting 48 of the world’s best players to compete in 18 season of events offering a total prize fund of more than 200 million euros.
“I think with the strategic alliance that we have now formed with the PGA Tour, that will help the Irish Open.
“The Irish-American market is huge. In the next few years, I think we could see a closer relationship between the PGA Tour, the European Tour, the Irish Open and some other events. That is the long-term plan, which we could have. a closer relationship with the PGA Tour and the Irish Open can be part of that conversation. There is a possibility that it will. “
“[Conversations] did not start with [the Premier Golf League] but it certainly sped it up, I’ll say.
“Between Covid-19 and the rise of the Premier Golf League, and their emergence as a really strong alternative to the PGA Tour, things accelerated, certainly from a PGA point of view, to say, ‘hey, now now is the time to do something and establish a proper financial connection between the two journeys, which is where it evolved. “
McGinley was also positive in his assessment of some of Ireland’s strongest players after such a difficult year.
On Lowry he surmised: “He’s gone from 19th in the world this time last year to about 30th right now. I think he’s only had one top 10, maybe two top 10s all season. Shane Lowry is a player. much better than that.
“But the mitigating circumstances is the fact that he’s a great champion now. You talk about the pressure and the expectations a player has internally … I think Shane is suffering from that.
“Winning a major championship puts a lot of pressure. You need a period of adjustment. Shane is not the only person who has struggled with that. Most men who have won a major championship for the first time do: that period of adjustment, that period in which you find yourself in the whole panorama and the world of professional golf, how you are perceived, the additional interviews you have to do, the knowledge of the public that knows you much better.
“Also, being a Covid year, he has not been able to go back to Ireland as much as he would have liked. Of all of us, Shane is the most Irish. He is very inspired by being in Ireland and going to under-21 pitching matches and following GAA … those things are really important to Shane. “
In his criticism of McIlroy, McGinley said: “Rory has had ups and downs his entire career. There is nothing different here. He is a bit depressed right now, this time last year he was number one in the world, we were all talking about Rory. “. the way we’re talking about Dustin Johnson now, but it goes up and down.
“Rory is an inspiring player. Something inspiring happens to him and he goes away. Then he calms down and falls into a kind of stupor where he goes through the motions.
“Then all of a sudden something will turn him on and he will run again. He’s still very young, he still has an amazing game. For Rory, it’s all about mental commitment. When he gets that mental commitment, he will take off. His career will come again. He’s too good a player. “
Stephanie meadow [above] and Leona Maguire, meanwhile, are currently in the top 60 on the LPGA rankings and have made really solid progress in America.
“I’m not surprised,” McGinley said.
“I would be familiar with both of their games, I have followed their careers very closely since the Olympics. Stephanie has had a few things in life that have occurred to her. Her father died and he was a very important influence on her career.
“Having to come back from that and live in America is full of heart. I think there will be more to come from Stephanie and Leona as well.
“Leona is Miss Consistency. She doesn’t play like a Lexi Thompson can, who can hit the ball for miles and dominate the golf courses. Leona can do it like a Jim Furyk, just with sheer consistency and competitiveness.
“Olivia Mehaffey is another who is coming, be careful with her, as she will soon turn professional. I would calmly bet that in the next twelve months, if not 24, we will not only have one, but two or three victories in that LPGA. Tour and maybe even a major championship. “
McGinley also offered his thoughts on perhaps the most talked about golfer in the world this year: Bryson DeChambeau.
“What Bryson has done, to the outsider who looks inward, watches how much his volume increases, it’s very easy to say, ‘Oh my God, this guy is hitting the ball 40 yards more than everyone else, this guy is changing the whole professional golf panorama ‘.
“But what has really happened is that he has highlighted what has happened in professional golf the last ten years. He has only joined the game. He was in the second level in terms of distance from the tee, now he is in the top level .
“He’s joined Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas as the best hitters in the game. What he’s done is highlighting the importance of hitting the ball throughout the professional game. But he hasn’t.” jumped 30, 40 yards ahead of these guys. All you’ve done is join that party. ”
Finally, McGinley looked to the competition in which he has enjoyed many of his best days: the Ryder Cup. He believes that the postponement to 2021 is a good thing for European captain Harrington, who will lead his team to Whistling Straits in September in search of of a fifth European success in six meetings.
“If you look at the form of both potential teams last September, when the game was supposed to be played, the Americans would have been the favorites because they had so many players in form compared to the Europeans.
“I think another 12 months will certainly help Europeans to rediscover form a bit.
“It is questionable that the Americans can maintain the incredible high performance that many of them showed this year. That is what happens.
“Up and down”.
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