Irishman Paul McGinley, who resigned as Europe’s Ryder Cup vice-captain last year, boosted his qualification hopes by taking the first-round lead at the PGA Championship on Thursday.
McGinley stood down as captain Nick Faldo’s right-hand man in September to play his way into the team and showed belated signs of doing so by firing a seven-under-par 65 at the European Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth.
His 2006 Ryder Cup team mate Swede Robert Karlsson was the Irishman’s nearest challenger after a six-under-par 66.
McGinley, who holed the 2002 Ryder Cup-winning putt in the first of three consecutive victories he has played in, lies 32nd on the European points list to qualify for the September 19-21 match against the U.S.
“I have struggled most of the year with poor first rounds and I’m thrilled to get away to a good start in the tournament as it’s a long time since I have done that,” McGinley told reporters after his round.
McGinley’s 65 beat the previous best of 66 set last year by Briton Paul Broadhurst since South Africa’s Ernie Els lengthened the course by 300 yards in 2005. The old course record of 63 was last equaled by Australian Jarrod Moseley in 2002.
McGinley notched his first birdie of a bogey-free round at the par-five fourth and followed that up with a three at the par-four ninth.
Two more birdies came on the two par-three’s at 10 and 14 either side of a four at the par-five 12th. The 41-year-old finished with birdies at the closing pair of par five holes.
Asked how the course was playing, McGinley said: “It’s very tricky. It’s hard and fast and I feel it’s a real test of golf.”
“You are not tested enough on course management on a lot of the courses we play but today was old style golf, links golf, this is what the game was initially designed around and I revel in it.”
The tall Karlsson, fourth on the Ryder Cup European points list, birdied the last for his sixth birdie in a bogey-free round as he looks to end a near two-year trophy drought.
“I played very well,” he said. “It’s a bit of a funny course. When it plays short, the way it does now, quite bouncy, its a lot trickier. So you have got to play it very, very patiently and, hopefully, knock in a few puts and I did today.”
South African Louis Oosthuizen and Australian Marcus Frazer are a further shot back after carding five-under-par 67s.
Frazer entered the final round last year in a share of third but a 78 ended his chances of victory on the Sunday.
“I was disappointed to finish off with a bad round last year, but with it (the course) bouncing like this it gives me a bit of an advantage.”
There were plenty of high-profile strugglers on day one with twice U.S. Open winner Retief Goosen of South Africa firing a four-over-par 76 matched by Order of Merit holder Briton Justin Rose.
World number three Els fared one shot better at three-over alongside title holder Anders Hansen.
U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera recovered after a dismal start in which he bogeyed the first five holes to card a 73, a score matched by three times PGA Championship winner Colin Montgomerie.
65 Paul McGinley
66 Robert Karlsson (Swe)
67 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Marcus Fraser (Aus)
68 Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Garry Houston, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Simon Wakefield
69 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Marc Warren
70 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Anton Haig (Rsa), Gary Orr, Graeme McDowell, Oliver Wilson, David Howell, Nick Dougherty, Rafael Echenique (Arg), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Richard Green (Aus), Miles Tunnicliff, Gregory Havret (Fra)
71 Steve Webster, Hennie Otto (Rsa), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Marcel Siem (Ger), Stuart Manley, Martin Kaymer (Ger), Simon Khan, Oliver Fisher, Johan Edfors (Swe), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Paul Casey, Matthew Morris, Peter O'Malley (Aus)
72 Damien McGrane, James Kingston (Rsa), Ross Fisher, Andres Romero (Arg), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Peter Hanson (Swe), Alastair Forsyth, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Andrew Coltart, Carlos Rodiles (Spa), David Lynn, Paul Broadhurst, Paul Lawrie, Jamie Donaldson, Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Luke Donald, Mark Foster
73 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Colin Montgomerie, Scott Strange (Aus), Angel Cabrera (Arg), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Peter Lawrie, Anthony Wall, Gary Murphy, Markus Brier (Aut), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Ross McGowan, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
74 Christian Cevaer (Fra), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Paul Streeter, Benn Barham, Scott Drummond, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Lee Slattery, Rory McIlroy, Ariel Canete (Arg), Sam Little, Pablo Martin (Spa), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Thomas Levet (Fra)
75 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Anders Hansen (Den), Simon Dyson, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Stephen Dodd, Alexander Noren (Swe), Andrew Oldcorn, Ernie Els (Rsa), Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Bradley Dredge, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Greig Hutcheon, Darren Clarke, Mark Brown (USA), Sam Walker, Stephen Gallacher, Richard Finch, Richard Sterne (Rsa)
76 Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Soren Hansen (Den), Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe), David Shacklady, Ian Ellis, John Bickerton, Justin Rose, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Carl Suneson (Spa), Retief Goosen (Rsa), Tom Whitehouse, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Barry Lane
77 David Griffiths, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Phillip Price, Phillip Archer, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Lee Westwood, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Jon Lupton
78 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Sean Mason, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Robert Dinwiddie, Pelle Edberg (Swe), Mardan Mamat (Sin)
79 Peter Whiteford, James Kamte (Rsa), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Graeme Storm
80 Brett Rumford (Aus), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Leif Westerberg (Swe), Anthony Tarchetti, Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Mark Staunton, Kane Webber (USA)
81 John Dwyer, Peter Baker
83 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Zane Scotland (Gbr)
84 Michael Jonzon (Swe)
