McGinley to recharge after car wreck
By Brian Keogh
Frustrated Paul McGinley confessed that "car crash golf" killed his US PGA chances at Southern Hills.
Tied for ninth place at halfway, McGinley finished down amongst the also-rans on 11 over par after adding a fiver over par 75 to his Saturday 76.
Playing his 13th event in 17 weeks took its toll on the Dubliner, 40, who had 11 birdies against 14 bogeys and four double bogeys.
Two of those doubles came in the final round and he now plans to take time off to re-group after a marathon run on tour.
McGinley moaned: "What can I say? I didn’t play as badly as I scored, but I couldn’t have scored any worse over the weekend.
"I putted dreadfully for two days and had three double bogeys on the weekend. So it's very hard to play when you’re doing that.
"As my caddie Darren was saying coming up the last hole there, in my last eight rounds that I’ve played here in America I’ve had seven doubles and a triple. That’s car crash golf.
"You can’t expect to compete when you’ve got that because not alone are you bogeying, you’re doubling and tripling and losing so much momentum."
McGinley was just six shots behind Tiger Woods after two rounds after a Friday 66, but took ten shots more on Saturday to crash out of contention/
He then followed that with another disastrous round yesterday to walk away a very disappointed man.
He said: "That is what is hurting, there’s too many disasters. I putted abysmally over the weekend, my two birdies today were kick-ins. Two feet on six with seven iron, eight inches on 11 with eight iron.
"Not alone am I not making any birdie putts, but I’ve missed a lot of six footers for par which you’ve got to do in a major championship.
"I’d three bad days and one good day. I scored dreadfully. I really don’t know what it is . Twice my ball found the water on the back nine and it is not as if there is a lot of water here.
"A bad shot seems to find the worse possible position and I’m not taking advantage of my good shots.
"I haven’t played that badly but I’ve got to score better. I’ve played eight weeks in a row and maybe that’s too much.
"I’m taking two or three weeks off, unfortunately my decent form came at the end of the ten weeks instead of at the start.
"I didn’t maximise the way I played the last three or four weeks in terms of scoring. I’ve played poorly the last 18 months and when I do find a bit of form, you just want to keep going.
"If I’m to be honest, that hasn’t worked. It often doesn’t happen if you chase it. I’m going to take some time off now and regroup, spend some time with the family."