Knee victim Paul McGinley has been given the green light to embark on what would amount to a miracle Ryder Cup comeback.

The Dubliner, 43, hoped to hit the fairways running last month after undergoing a horror sixth operation on his crocked left knee nearly four months ago.

But after fearing the worst when he failed to make a quick recovery, he’s set to return in next month’s Hassan II Golf Trophy in Morocco thanks to some magic from Padraig Harrington’s physio Dr Liam Hennessy.

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Paul McGinley speaking at a Golfing Union of Ireland function at Carton House last monthPaul McGinley's nightmare run of bad luck has spread to his family with the news that his father Michael Snr has taken a major financial loss in a business venture.

According to the Sunday Business Post, McGinley Snr and his business partner Tony Boyle are taking a hit of almost €20 million on the collapse of their 3G Mobile chain.

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Paul McGinley in happier times. Celebrating his 2005 Volvo Masters win at ValderramaInjured Paul McGinley is facing another month out of the game.

The Dubliner, 43,  had hoped to return to action alongside Padraig Harrington in next week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA Tour. But his slow rate of recovery from a sixth knee operation has forced him to put his comeback plans on hold.

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The line of people looking for autographs and photographs looked like it would never end for Paul McGinley.

But as he posed with some of the guests who attended the GUI Champions' Dinner at Carton House, the guest of honour had other things on his mind.

Standing in a corner afterwards, he tried to keep the weight off his troublesome left knee and revealed the depths of his personal injury nightmare and his determination to battle his way back to the top.

While other Irish players like Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell are looking forward to a huge year, McGinley would be happy to know when his comeback will begin.

Eight weeks after having knee surgery for the sixth time in his career, the 41-year old Dubliner knows it could be at least another month before he is able to play again and show the world that there is life in the old dog yet.

“It’s taking a long time to recover. I’ve had six operations on that knee and the kneecap’s really battered,” said McGinley who has turned to Padraig Harrington’s physiotherapist Dr Liam Hennessy for advice but knows that he's unlikely to be able to play until mid-February at the earliest.

“Liam’s given me some great ideas, some insight and I’m reinvigorated now in the next two weeks to do some hard training."

McGinley wants to compete with the best in the world but he's light years away from being able to stand toe to toe with Harrington or McIlroy right now.

“Yes, this is the toughest moment of my career and I’m going to find out a lot about myself over the next few years," he said. “All I can say is I’m hugely ambitious. It hurts like hell I’ve had the year I did last year. It hurts like hell that I’ve fallen down the Order of Merit.”

While Harrington dreams of completing the Grand Slam and his stablemate McIlroy plots a course that could see him become world No 1 over the next 18 months, McGinley is simply trying to keep his spirits up.

He is now ranked a lowly 226th in the world and barring a miraculous return to form, he will sit out this season’s majors and World Golf Championships.

But he is also famed for his grit and determination and while he feels he has been written off as a competitive force and added to the list of potential Ryder Cup captains, he’s not ready to be put out of pasture just yet.

“It’s hard to stop myself getting deflated,” he said. “Having such a bad year in 2009, my worst ever on Tour, the last thing I wanted over the winter period was an injury because I have work to do.

“I’ve been thinking of Bob Torrance every day and I’m just so frustrated because I’ve work to do and things to catch-up on that I missed out last year.

“I’d such a bad year and when you’ve had a bad year, you want to get back to work. I know why I didn’t play well last year and I want to put it right.

“I’m frustrated that I’m stuck here standing on one leg because I can’t do the stuff I want to do.

“I’ve done everything I was meant to do over the last eight weeks, all the physio told me and all the surgeon told me and I’m still not even close to playing but it’s not their fault.

“I haven’t hit a shot for eight weeks. I’m not even close. I tried to hit some shots over Christmas, 40 yard pitches was all I could do. I can’t put any stress or speed into it.”

He admits that given his limited schedule, he cannot play enough big money evens to qualify automatically for Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup side to face the Americans at Celtic Manor in October.

But Montgomerie will have three captain’s picks instead of two and McGinley is clinging to the hope that he can play well enough to force his way into the Scot’s thoughts comes the end of the qualifying campaign.

“I won’t make the team or merit from where I am in the world and where I am with regard to getting into tournaments. Having said that, the captain’s got three picks this year and if I play well in the tournaments I do play, obviously win and contend and have a high level of consistency, even if I don’t make the team he’s got three picks this year.

“I’ve a lot of ambitions left. I know everybody is painting me into the picture of vice-captain or captain down the road, but I’m really not ready for that role yet.

“I’ve got to prove it to myself more than anybody else that I can still play. The only way I can do that is by doing the work, working with Bob, getting out there and practicing in a coherent way.”

There are lies and damned statistics but the numbers produced by the European Tour boffins give Padraig Harrington the edge over Rory McIlroy this year.

Yes, McIlroy topped the stroke average and almost won the inaugural Race to Dubai while Harrington floundered in swing tinkering hell for half the season before exploding into life in August.

But if you add together their ranking in the nine Genworth Financial Statistics categories, Harrington finished an average of six places ahead of McIlroy.

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Ryder Cup players Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell hope Tiger Woods does not take too much time out of the game.

With sponsorship opportunities thin on the ground and tournaments struggling to maintain their million-dollar prize funds, the Irish duo know that Woods' presence on the fairways is absolutely key.

"If he doesn't return, it's a scary vision," McDowell said. "It's a very scary vision. We're under no illusion how prosperous we've been with Tiger Woods playing in our era. There are a lot of global stars on their way up. But they're not quite ready to replace Tiger."

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Crocked Paul McGinley believes he can bounce back from yet another knee surgery to win a fourth Ryder Cup cap.

The battling Dubliner, 42, does not want to be written off as a contender despite his worst season for 18 years and his sixth knee operation.

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Paul McGinley is facing up to two months out of the game after undergoing yet another operation on his left knee.

The 42-year old Dubliner had surgery to clean out damaged cartilage in his troublesome left knee - the sixth operation he has undergone on the same knee since he broke his knee cap playing gaelic football when he was 19.

"I don't know what the situation is in the long term but my knee is disintegrating at a rate," said McGinley, who finished 104th in the Race to Dubai for his worst ranking in 18 years on tour. 

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Gary Murphy confessed that he only has himself to blame as he battles to retain his European Tour card.

The Kilkenny man is €13,086 outside the top 115 in the money list who will qualify for the 2010 Race to Dubai and a top performance in this week’s Castellon Masters near Valencia is crucial.

The only problem is that this could be his last chance saloon.

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Rory McIlroy reckons he needs to bank another MILLION euro to clinch the inaugural Race to Dubai.

The Holywood star, 20, is determined to become the youngest European No 1 in history and he's set his sights on grabbing the €500,000 top prize in this week's Portugal Masters.

With nearest rivals Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey still out injured, McIlroy said: “I have got to keep my foot on the pedal and keep going. I’ve got just over €2m euro now but I think I’ll need at least €3m to have a chance to win.

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There's nothing like a crisis to concentrate the mind but Gary Murphy has managed to avoid thinking about "the dark side" in the Madrid Masters and made a positive start.

Damien McGrane and Gary Murphy are tied for ninth in the Madrid MastersWith time running out in his bid to save his tour card, the Kilkenny man opened with a five under par 67 at the Centro Nacional de Golf by simply focussing on his game rather than the grim reality of his situation.

"I would be lying it I said I wasn't thinking about stuff off the course," Murphy confessed.

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And Paul McGinley thought that everything was looking up. Now he's facing an anxious wait on the results of an MRI on a hand injury that could hamper his bid to rack up some Ryder Cup points before Christmas.

Two weeks ago, McGinley was riding the crest of a wave at the Vivendi Trophy in Paris, where he rubber-stamped his credentials as the only viable candidate for the 2014 Ryder Cup captaincy by leading Britain and Ireland to an impressive victory over a strong Continental Europe side led by Thomas 'The Diplomat' Bjorn.

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