Pocket battler Paul McGinley feels sure that he has rid his game of the gremlins - just in time for the Open.

McGinley missed four out of six cuts before getting his game back in shape to finish tied for 14th in the Barclays Scottish Open last weekend.

Now the 35-year-old Dubliner is set on completing his recovery with a big performance on the biggest stage of all.

And he is determined to show how far he has come as a player on the course where he made his Open debut in 1992.

He said: "There's always a buzz in a Major. This is the big time, what it's all about. I was very overawed by the whole occasion when I made my debut here in 1992 but I've come a long way since then.

"This is my favourite British Open course. It's a good test of golf and the rough is really high. But I have good memories of the '92 Open here when I had a hole in one I had at the seventh with a four-iron."

McGinley missed the cut by two shots that year but he is a totally different player today to that rookie professional.

Now McGinley is a multi-millionaire with three professional wins, over E4,000,000 in earnings and a place in September's Ryder Cup to his credit.

But having led the Open at halfway at Royal Lytham in 1996, the small but powerfully built Irishman has his sights set on greater things this time around.

He admitted: "The focus has changed from being part of big tournament to being in the tournament and challenging.

"It was a huge learning curve for me. Now I have to concentrate on getting the ball down the fairway and getting the ball on the green and making birdies and pars.

"I've had a rough four or five weeks and I've learned a big lesson. I didn't address my technical problem when I should have and tried to play my way through it instead of sitting down and analysing why I was hitting the ball so poorly."

An in-depth coaching session with Pete Cowen sorted out the destructive hook that caused McGinley to miss the cut for the second year running on his home course - the K Club just two weeks ago.

He said: "The K Club missed cut , that was the final straw. After playing well in Augusta I then had two weeks in Ireland at the Seve trophy and the Irish PGA where I didn't hit the ball high at all. I was hitting it low to beat the wind.

"After that I should have gone back and worked on my fundamentals and my swing before the Benson and Hedges at the Belfry but I didn't. So there's a lesson there. Unfortunately it took me four or five weeks before I realised what I was doing wrong."

Cowen helped McGinley realise that he was trying hit the ball low and getting too much of a low right to left flight, which eventually turned into a destructive hook.

"I've worked a lot with Pete Cowen and I actually played with a fade last wee," he explained. "I faded the ball, which is unusual for me and didn't get into trouble."

Far from being at the top of his game, McGinley at least expects to keep the ball in play around a links courses that contains two loops with the first one running clockwise outside the back nine before changing direction on the way home.

"My game is not exactly where I want it to be but the ball is a lot more playable," he said. "I'm able to get the ball in play and I feel like I have more control over what I'm doing.

"I had three double bogeys in the first round in the K Club. When have I ever done that? I didn't have BOGEY last weekend - 36 holes, 30 pars, six birdies. So that's more like the golf I normally play.

"To have three double bogeys in the first round at he K Club was ridiculous. Three shots just 40 yards off line and I don't normally do that."

By modern standards, Muirfield is a 'mere' 7,034 yards. But with a tight par of 71 and with just three par fives, it is not a course that will play into the hands of the big hitters.

"It reminds me a little bit of Portmarnock in so far as all the holes run in different directions," McGinley explained. "I like that. There's a variety and it's not all the way out and all the way back the way it is with some traditional links courses. Having said that I really like St Andrews too. But in terms of the golf course, this is the best."

Unlike St Andrews, Muirfield's dangers are all there in front of you and that's good news for straight hitters like McGinley who can't abide the sight of an arrow straight drive disappearing into a hidden bunker or taking a ricochet off a mound on the fairway.

Said McGinley: "There are no hidden bunkers or blind shots. The greens are all well designed, well bunkered and just a large variety of shots have to be played. Here you are bobbing and weaving, downwind one minute, against the next."

But despite his good humour, McGinley is not setting any lofty goals this week.

"No, I'm not making to many plans. What I'm hoping is to continue the progress I've made with my swing and move forward from there. The big picture is getting my game back where it was last year. That's really what my goal is this week. I had 12 top tens last year and I've only had two this season so just getting ready with a view to September.

"It's a completely different test to last week. The difference is that I had four competitive rounds and I did pretty well and got my game back in shape again. This is a completely different test."

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© Brian Keogh 2002

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