Monday 24 February 2014 12:21, UK
Paul McGinley got the chance to see a number of Ryder Cup hopefuls in match play action whilst working as a Sky Sports pundit last week.
Last time we spoke you said you were eager to be competitive with the clubs yourself - and then went on to shoot 67 at Pebble Beach. How's your game going and how important is it for you to continue playing at a high level in this Ryder Cup year? PM: I played very well on the first day at Pebble Beach but then the bad weather came in and I didn't handle that very well, which is disappointing. I actually played ok in the next few days but lost my putting when the weather turned nasty. But I'm really keen to be competitive on the course this year and to try to play with as many of the players as I can. That's an important part of my role as captain. Unfortunately I'm not getting to play as much as I'd like. My next tournament looks like Morocco, if not Spain, and that will mean three events in the first five months of year - but I guess when you're captain some other things have to take priority. At the end of last year I played with Peter Hanson when he shot 63 and that was because I played well, made the cut and was drawn with him at the weekend. It's really good to play with the potential Ryder Cup players on tour, speak to them on the range and so on. You say you've not been able to play as much as you'd like, how's your schedule looking over the next month or so? This must be a very busy period for you? PM: You should see my diary! I've done a lot of the stuff off the course in terms of hotel rooms, logistics for the week, team rooms, uniforms and so on. But I'm going to the EC in Brussels to represent the Ryder Cup, Scotland and European Tour and make a speech to European parliament in a week's time. I've then got the vice-captaincy announcement, I've got work to do for sponsors - every week there's things going on. There's also my golf course design business in Ghana, where we're just about to open a course at the end of April. It's a busy time - but if I'm not busy now I'll never be busy! It's very enjoyable though.
