McGinley believes Europe has strong Ryder Cup "cocktail" for Rome
Paul McGinley. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Paul McGinley saw enough at the Hero Cup to believe Europe has the strength in depth to win back the Ryder Cup in Rome.
The winning 2014 captain was at Abu Dhabi Golf Club as an advisor to European skipper Luke Donald and he was impressed as Continental Europe beat Great Britain and Ireland 14.5-10.5 in an event re-introduced as an important Ryder Cup dress rehearsal.
McGinley was hugely impressed by Europe's talent pool as Francesco Molinari, Victor Perez, Nicolai Hojgaard and Guido Migliozzi went unbeaten for the winners and a host of GB&I players showed their potential with Seamus Power and Robert MacIntyre forming a strong bond.
"It's just gain, gain, gain; win, win, win," McGinley said of a team-building exercise that helped US-based Power and Sepp Straka get to know potential teammates.
"We know what great players these guys are and I think we've got the bones of a really strong team. Rory and Rahm are arguably the best two players in the world, and then you put in the three English guys behind that in Tyrrell (Hatton), Tommy (Fleetwood) and Matt Fitzpatrick.
"Then there's Shane and Viktor (Hovland), who are strong players high up in the world rankings who are going to be part of the team.
"Throw in maybe a Rose or a Molinari coming back, or an Alex Noren or even a Thomas Pieters and two guys right up the world rankings in Seamus Power and Straka as rookies and maybe a Bob MacIntyre, or one of the Hojgaards coming in or a Matt Wallace and that's a cocktail for a very, very strong team."
Europe is in the midst of a changing of the Ryder Cup guard, but McGinley sees no reason why it has to be a painful transition.
"We've been through this before," he told Sky Sports. "We had a changing of the guard from the Seves and the Langers and Woosies and didn't miss a beat in winning Ryder Cups. So there's no reason why we should have to sit out two or three Ryder Cups and expect to lose these.
"Watching and observing in Abu Dhabi, Luke is really on it, and then you throw in the talent behind the scenes, and I think we've got the potential there to have a very strong team.
"I'm not going say we're going to be dominant and we're going to beat the Americans because we know how strong they are. But I think we're going to be in a great position to be really prepared to put in a great performance in Italy."
Hero Cup points tallies
Lowry, who lost his four matches in the Hero Cup but was yesterday named on the PGA Tour's 16-man Player Advisory Council for 2023, returns to action alongside Power and Pádraig Harrington in this week's $9 million Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links this week.
The Dubliner (51) is looking to build on his four wins on the PGA Tour Champions in 2022 and hopes he can transfer his winning form to the main tours, where a win would see him break the record set by Phil Mickelson, who was the oldest winner at 50 years and 341 days when he won the 2021 PGA Championship.
It's also a big week for Leona Maguire, whose maiden LPGA Tour win last year earned her a spot in the 29-strong field for this week's $1.5 million Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at her Lake Nona base in Florida.
