Don't blame McGinley for length

By Brian Keogh

Paul McGinley held up hands over the monster extension to Adare's 8th hole and roared: Don't blame me.

Players have been wringing their hands over the new tee at the 481 yard par-four, which has been taken back a testing 64 yards.

The tee even bears a stone monument with the inscription "McGinley's Tee", put there at the order of Adare boss Tom Kane.

But the Dubliner swears that while he recommended lengthening the hole after talks with Kane, he never intended to turn it into a monster.

McGinley pleaded: "I didn't mean it to go back 64 yards. So hopefully we won't be playing it from the very back because it is not meant to be played from that length.

"The green is not designed for that length of hole. It's a driver and three-iron now and the it's not designed for a three-iron. So I'm sure they will bring it back."

Tournament director David Probyn has agreed to take the wind into account when setting up this morning's tee boxes.

And the players will get their way with the eighth as well as the terrifying 230-yard, par three 11th over the River Maigue.

With a €460,000 house up for grabs for a hole in one, Probyn said: “It will all really depend on the wind direction but we will be looking at some holes such as 11, which we know is very demanding off the new tee especially with its narrow entrance to the green.

"And the eighth, we won’t be hanging off the back of the tee there. We are aware that the winds could be at their worst on Friday and we will be looking at it very carefully.

"We want to be sensible with the set up."