Paul

McGinley

The Irishman slides into the role of leading the two-time defending champions at Gleneagles in Scotland. The Europeans won in all three of his appearances as a player -- 2002, 2004 and 2006. The four-time European Tour winner turned 46 years of age in December.

That’s arguably the last thing we expected to relay to you today. He hadn’t scored this low in an official PGA TOUR event since a second-round 67 at the 2008 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. The 47-year-old split 13 (of 14) fairways today and hit 13 greens in regulation. He picked off five birdies, including zero-putt nine-yarder at the par-3 fifth hole. His longest conventional conversions measured 16'1" and 10'8" at Nos. 6 and 11, respectively.

The European Ryder Cup captain’s history in this event includes perfect attendance from 2004-2007, with another pit stop in 2009. His highlight was a T12 in 2006, which was his third trip. His last start in the U.S. was a missed cut in the PGA Championship in August of 2013. While his motives for this trip are a bit of a mystery, it’s reasonable to think his captaincy could have something to do with it.

“It’s a pity,” he said in a statement, “because I would have loved to have teed up at Valhalla, but I assessed the situation over the past couple of weeks during my family holiday and I think this is the sensible decision.” The PGA of America afforded both Ryder Cup captains a spot in the field of 156 at the season’s final major. U.S. skipper Tom Watson is expected to play.

On July 22, the PGA of America updated the field to include both Ryder Cup captains and 31 others, mainly internationals not otherwise exempt. All were slotted inside the top 97 of the Official World Golf Ranking through The Open Championship. In order of OWGR: Victor Dubuisson (21st); Thomas Björn (26th); Miguel Angel Jiménez (27th); Stephen Gallacher (31st); Jamie Donaldson (32nd); Thongchai Jaidee (33rd); Lee Westwood (34th); Francesco Molinari (42nd); Joost Luisten (46th); Mikko Ilonen (50th); Shane Lowry (59th); Koumei Oda (60th); Pablo Larrazábal (61st); Matteo Manassero (65th); George Coetzee (68th); Richard Sterne (69th); Bernd Wiesberger (70th); Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (71st); Rafael Cabrera-Bello (73rd); Brooks Koepka (77th); Ryo Ishikawa (78th); Paul Casey (81st); Anirban Lahiri (86th); Chris Wood (89th); Hyung-sung Kim (90th); Tommy Fleetwood (91st); Ross Fisher (92nd); David Hearn (93rd); Thorbjørn Olesen (94th); Branden Grace (95th); Edoardo Molinari (97th).

McGinley has actually teed it up three times since guiding Europe to victory at Gleneagles. He played the week after his team’s five-point victory and finished a creditable T42 in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. The Irishman was also T58 in the following week’s Portugal Masters and later T43 in November’s BMW Masters in China. Earlier in the season, a shoulder injury had restricted him to just one appearance between July and October. The 48-year-old has contested numerous Malaysian Opens but none at this week’s venue, Kuala Lumpur G&CC. His best was a fourth place at Saujana in 2005.