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McGinley gives up Ryder Cup vice-captaincy

Andy Farrell
Thursday 27 September 2007 00:00 BST
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Nick Faldo's first taste of Ryder Cup captaincy at the Seve Trophy did not get off to the best of starts yesterday when he had to announce the resignation of Paul McGinley as one of his vice-captains.

Back in May, McGinley and Jose Maria Olazabal were paraded as "vice-captain designates" with Faldo admitting he was happy to replace either man if they made the team for next year's match at Valhalla in America as a player. Faldo said in the short term what he wanted from the two was feedback from the team-room.

McGinley, in particular, said that though it was a "great honour" he had thought long and hard before accepting the position. It seems a summer of unspectacular results – though he has made plenty of cuts he has had only three top-20 finishes – has left the 40-year-old Irishman keen to concentrate on playing without any distractions.

But nothing is ever simple with the Ryder Cup, or Faldo, and McGinley's move comes just days after he was overlooked as a wild card by Faldo for the Great Britain and Ireland team at the Seve Trophy, which starts this morning at The Heritage in Ireland. In fact, it is just a GB team since exhausted Open champion Padraig Harrington headed a string of withdrawals from the event.

Faldo can muster only Paul Casey and Colin Montgomerie as Ryder Cup players, along with a number of hopefuls for next year's match, including Justin Rose. When he came to consider his wild cards he went for two young thrusters who were next in line on the rankings in Simon Dyson, who was sixth at the USPGA, and Marc Warren, a winner at Gleneagles last month.

However, Irish newspapers, concerned at the lack of a home player, suggested McGinley had been keen to play and had been snubbed. But Faldo said: "From the start he was concerned about the workload. The bottom line is he wants to play next year. For this match I felt I should put the young guns in who were champing at the bit to play. I spoke to Paul and he is comfortable with my picks."

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