Paul McGinley’s sensational seven under par 65 saw the Irishman continue his love affair with Wentworth Club and set a course record over Ernie Els’s redesigned West Course in the opening round of the 2008 BMW PGA Championship.
After a solid start of two birdies in his opening nine holes, McGinley – a runner-up over the West Course in 2005 at both the BMW PGA Championship and World Match Play Championship – produced a stunning back nine performance, picking up five birdies to surge to the top of the leaderboard.
“Obviously I'm thrilled with that start,” smiled McGinley. “I've struggled most of the year with poor first rounds, or not poor ones, but medium first rounds and the standard is so high on Tour now you seem to get behind very quickly.
“I'm just thrilled more than anything to get off to a good start in a tournament, because it's been a long time since I've done that.
“My stats have been great this year. I’m right up there in greens in regulation and fairways hit. My underlying stats have been great, and my results haven't really matched the stats I've played. But I'm long enough in the game that if my stats are going to be that good, I'm going to have my weeks.”
