McGinley makes quick return
Just two weeks after a fourth operation on his left knee, Paul McGinley was back in action in the Celtic Manor Wales Open today.
But it was playing partner and fellow Ryder Cup hopeful Paul Broadhurst who was among the early leaders in the first round.
McGinley pulled out of the Irish Open after 13 holes of his first round a fortnight ago and went straight to a Dublin hospital for an operation to remove a piece of floating bone from his left knee.
With the US Open approaching and the race for Ryder Cup places hotting up, McGinley was determined to make a quick recovery and even considered playing in the BMW Championship at Wentworth last week.
That came a bit too soon for the Dubliner but he came through yesterday’s pro-am unscathed and showed no signs of the injury this morning.
Good birdie chances went begging on the opening two holes and McGinley remained level par after four, two shots behind Broadhurst who had birdied the 10th and 11th from 10 and five feet respectively.
Broadhurst, who at eighth in the cup standings is one place behind McGinley, shared second place with Yorkshire’s Simon Dyson, one shot behind early leader Peter Lawrie who had a hat-trick of birdies from the second.
Colin Montgomerie, who has missed the cut in seven of his last 10 events, was one under after rolling in a 20ft birdie putt on the 11th.
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