Respect. That's what Paul McGinley earned from his peers for his impressive Vivendi Trophy captaincy in Paris last weekend. 

"In all of the success I've had in previous things I've done, it's amazing how many people have said nice things this week," he said at the Alfred Dunhill Link, where he is just three shots behind Rory McIlroy, Michael Hoey and Richie Ramsay at halfway. "The coverage must have been incredible. The whole world seems to have been watching it."

Paul McGinley reckons Padraig Harrington has the game and the guts to deny Tiger Woods the $10m FedExCup jackpot and future majors.

McGinley and Harrington after their World Cup success of 1997But the battling Dubliner is more worried about recovering from golfing “hell” so that he will have enough credibility with the young guns to land the European Ryder Cup captaincy at Gleneagles in 2014.

Peter Lawrie has no regrets about putting his family ahead of a place in Paul McGinley's Vivendi Trophy side.

One out of three ain't badThe Dubliner missed out on a trip to Paris by just €15,210 when he opted to skip last week's Mercedes Benz Championship to be with his wife and new born baby daughter. As a result, he was leapfrogged in the rankings by England's Anthony Wall.

(First published on 11 October, 2005)

Seve Ballesteros has pulled off the impossible hundreds of time in his career. Now he’s determined to create another bit of history and snatch Des Smyth’s record by becoming the oldest winner in the history of the European Tour.

Few believe the Spanish maestro, 48, will ever regain even a glimmer of the form that brought him five majors and 72 tournament victories worldwide. But he remains convinced that he can lift a European Tour trophy once more - even if nobody else does.

Oceanico boss Gerry Fagan has launched a scathing attack on Ryder Cup skipper Nick Faldo for last month's Seve Trophy fiasco at The Heritage.

The Drogheda-born property millionaire has lashed Faldo's captaincy as "an insult" to the sponsors and Ireland in general, vowing never to touch the event again.

Nick Faldo got his captaincy career off to a dream start as his Great Britain and Ireland side crushed Continental Europe 16 1/2 to 11 1/2 to retain the Seve Trophy.

Colin Montgomerie remained winless in the Seve Trophy as Continental Europe took a narrow 9.5 - 8.5 lead into the final day at The Heritage in rain-soaked Co Laois.

Rookie Marc Warren ended up in hospital at the Seve Trophy when he smashed a glass chandelier with a practice swing.

Seve Trophy wild card Simon Dyson has confessed that skipper Nick Faldo struggled to contact him last week.

The English rookie was a last gasp addition to the GB&I side - apparently forcing Faldo to back-track on a late call up for Paul McGinley.

Nick Faldo expected tales of the unexpected on his captaincy debut in Co Laois.

But Europe’s next Ryder Cup skipper probably never imagined he’d see blood, a destroyed €1,000 chandelier and zero points from talisman Colin Montgomerie in the space of 24 hours.

Ryder Cup team mates Padraig Harrington and Jose Maria Olazábal will remain ‘amigos’ despite Sunday’s Seve Trophy bust up.