Wall of silence from Faldo and McGinley

By Brian Keogh

Nick Faldo and Paul McGinley last night erected a wall of silence over the Dubliner's Seve Trophy snub and Ryder Cup resignation.

Ryder Cup and GB&I skipper Faldo refused point blank to answer questions over whether he had originally offered McGinley a Seve Trophy wildcard and then back-tracked.

Sources close to the Dubliner have revealed that Faldo could not contact first pick Simon Dyson last week and rang McGinley to tell him to pack his bags for The Heritage.

But when Dyson eventually got back to Faldo to tell him he was available, the Ryder Cup and Seve Trophy skipper was forced to tell McGinley he was out in the cold again.

McGinley refused to answer any further questions on the matter or his resignation as Ryder Cup vice-captain, stating through a spokesman that he wanted to concentrate on his preparations for next week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

And there was a similar response from under pressure Faldo during another tense news conference at the Co Laois venue.

The six-time major winner opened his remarks by telling the assembled press that he would not be answering any Ryder Cup questions.

Faldo said: "I am obviously aware of what is going on in the media but out of respect for Seve and his event and in view of that I will not be talking about anything to do with the Ryder Cup.

"I want to concentrate on this event out of respect for Seve. I am thinking purely of this event and so are the players. I would appreciate if we could do that guys."

But McGinley's shock resignation as a Ryder Cup vice-captain on the eve of the matches has completely overshadowed the Seve Trophy.

Faldo is making his first appearance as a team skipper this week and already things have blown up in his face with the Irish public voting with their feet by staying away.

Just 400 fans turned up to watch the opening fourballs and Faldo was forced to declare war on any further chat about McGinley right from the start of his joint press conference with Seve Ballesteros.

After some innocuous opening questions about the day's play, Faldo was asked if he had originally offered McGinley a wild card because he could not contact Dyson.

Bristling visibly, Faldo said: "I believe I just stated at the beginning, I will not be talking about anything other that this week."

When it was pointed out to him that the question was in reference to the Seve Trophy and not to the Ryder Cup, Faldo stood firm.

He added: "It still refers to.... I know where you are going but I am going to stick with...."

Asked if it was true that he had difficulty contacting Dyson, Faldo added: "Guys! Let's stick with this event. Okay?"

Dyson was not available for comment yesterday evening.

Ironically, the Englishman is a member of the same management stable as McGinley and represents the Darren Clarke designed Champions Club at Moyvalley in Co Kildare.