Hamilton on Pole in Singapore Winning Putt at the Belfry in 2002 and “He’S a Great Lad
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p16_Layout 1 9/20/14 9:15 PM Page 1 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2014 SPORTS Team matters most for skipper McGinley EDINBURGH: Paul McGinley’s first love in the one thing I don’t want to do.” sports was Gaelic football and were it not McGinley’s rise to become the first Irish for a broken kneecap he sustained play- captain of Europe’s Ryder Cup side was ing that when he was 18, he would not something that came out of the blue almost certainly never have become when the decision was taken in Abu Europe’s Ryder Cup captain. Dhabi in January 2013. He was vice-cap- The injury, allied to his own small tain to Colin Montgomerie in Wales in stature, ruled out a career in the tough 2010 and to Jose Maria Olazabal two team sport so beloved of the Irish and years ago in Medinah and he also knew instead he turned to golf which until that his Seve Trophy exploits would not then had been more a pastime for the go unnoticed. Dubliner. A two-year golf scholarship in But still there were some raised eye- San Diego, where he once watched his brows that such a low-key and relatively hero Tom Watson play in a tournament unsung player had been chosen to go up and was given one of his golf gloves as a up against living legend Watson who the memento, followed and McGinley’s Americans asked to return to the role 31 career as a pro started in 1991. years after he performed it successfully Since then he has enjoyed modest at The Belfry. Once Darren Clarke had success with four European Tour wins, made himself unavailable, supporters of most notably at the season-ending Volvo Montgomerie, a Ryder Cup legend him- Masters in 2005, plus a fleeting appear- self, multiple European Tour champion ance in the world top 20. and a proud Scot to boot, made a case But the 47-year-old is better-known for his re-selection. for his exploits in the team version of the But with players such as fellow sport-winning the World Cup for Ireland Irishmen Rory McIlroy and Graeme alongside Padraig Harrington in 1997, McDowell taking his side, McGinley was the Ryder Cup for Europe in 2002, 2004 home and dry. McDowell for one and 2006 as well as success in the Seve believes that McGinley ticks all the right Trophy (as a player and captain) and the boxes for the job on hand. “Paul is going SINGAPORE: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain drives during the qualifying session of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix at the Royal Trophy in 2007 and 2007. McGinley to be a fantastic captain and I’ve said that Marina Bay Street circuit. —AFP believes it was his schoolboy years play- from day one,” said McDowell, who will ing Gaelic football that helped turn him make his fourth straight Ryder Cup into a Ryder Cup hero when he sunk the appearance for Europe at Gleneagles. Hamilton on pole in Singapore winning putt at The Belfry in 2002 and “He’s a great lad. He’s a scholar of that helped him get the 2014 Ryder Cup cap- methodology of management, captain- taincy he so craved. cy, leadership. He will do all the right SINGAPORE: A remarkably cool Lewis Hamilton he said. “It’s the most incredible feeling when “Street circuits keep you on your toes, but it was “The captaincy is something I am things, he will press all the right buttons. snatched a dramatic last-gasp pole position you do it on your last lap, with all the pressure certainly good fun. from his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg for and when the smallest mistake could lose you a “I have got a few mates here this weekend comfortable with,” he said in a recent “To me, he is going to personify the today’s Singapore Grand Prix with a phenomenal lot. and maybe some I don’t know about. It’s close to interview. “I like the role. I like the chal- right answer in the debate - Should the qualifying lap yesterday. The 29-year-old Briton “I made a mistake and locked up at the first home so it’s really nice to see a few Aussie flags lenge of behaving and doing the right emphasis be on golfing credentials or left it late, crossing the line after three rivals had corner and I was already two tenths down, but I and hopefully I can see a few more from the things. I like the challenge of behaving leadership qualities when it comes to in succession cut their times to take provisional said to myself let’s keep going and see what podium!” Behind the two Red Bulls, two-time and saying and doing the right things. being a Ryder Cup captain? What’s more pole to the raucous delight of the crowd as he happens. former champion Fernando Alonso qualified “Standing on a tee box and hitting a important?”Leadership qualities are the secured the prime starting position by just 0.007 “The previous lap wasn’t perfect either, I lost fifth for Ferrari ahead of Felipe Massa of Williams ball 300 yards down the middle has nev- most important thing. Look at Alex seconds-or less than the length of their time in 13 and 16, but I fixed that and got the and Kimi Raikkonen, who was seventh in the er come easy to me; standing over a five- Ferguson, someone like that. Leadership, Mercedes’ nose cones. time back and the last sector was pretty hard second Ferrari. foot putt and trying to hole it has never man management.” Rosberg, who leads him by 22 points in the core fast! On a tense and thrilling evening, Valtteri come easy to me; standing in front of the Gleneagles will tell whether the drivers’ championship with six races remaining, Bottas was eighth in the second Williams ahead media ... comes easier to me. choice of McGinley was an inspired one will start alongside him from second place after ‘FAIR PLAY TO LEWIS’ of Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen of McLaren “I’m just trying to be myself. I’m trying for Europe or whether a bigger name the Mercedes pairing grabbed their team’s sev- “It’s a great day for the team, but there is a lot and Daniil Kvyat for Toro Rosso. to be honest. I’m not relling a lie. That’s would have been better.—AFP enth one-two of the year. It was Hamilton’s third to do tomorrow.” Rosberg was understandably After the usual suspectsw had dropped out in pole in Singapore, his sixth this season and the amazed and exasperated. “If I think back over the Q1, Alonso and then Hamilton set the pace in Q2 37th of his career. lap, seven thousandths of a second is nothing - a as Ferrari continued to flex their new-found Rosberg’s reaction was pithy, but understand- little bit here or there and I could have done it,” muscle before a late Rosberg lap lifted him top able when he was given the news on team radio: he said. But Lewis did a good job today so fair by nearly half a second. Jenson Button missed “Dammit!” But, after an intriguing session, there play to him. “Second place, it is OK. Sure first is out on the top ten shootout, finishing 11th for was none of the acrimony that has punctuated better, but it’s a long race ahead, so that’s fine.” McLaren ahead of job-hunting Jean-Eric Vergne their duel for glory this year. Australian Daniel Ricciardo delighted many of of Toro Rosso, the two Force Indias, Esteban Hamilton, who is putting Rosberg under pres- his compatriots packed into the Marina Bay Gutierrez of Sauber and Romain Grosjean, who sure with his speed in recent races, raised a fist street circuit by claiming third on the grid for was 16th in his Renault. For Button, it signalled to celebrate in his car, but stayed calm after the Red Bull ahead of his team-mate and defending that he had been out-qualified 8-6 by session. In torrid conditions, he is handling the four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, winner of Magnussen this year while for Grosjean, a front- heat. the last three Singapore races. runner last year, frustration boiled over. “I cannot “I knew I had the pace, but it was just about “It was good fun out there and the track was believe it, bloody engine, bloody engine,” he putting the sectors together which is not easy,” improving as qualifying went on,” said Ricciardo. complained. —AFP Toulouse in crisis after fourth successive loss PARIS: Ailing four-time European champions Toulouse slipped to their fourth successive Top 14 defeat yesterday losing 27-16 at Racing-Metro despite Vincent Clerc scoring the 86th try of his career giving them the lead briefly in the second- half. Clerc’s try-which puts him third on the all-time French league try scorers list two behind Clermont skipper Aurelien Rougerie and 15 behind the retired Laurent Arbo-converted by Toby Flood in the second-half was answered by two from the hosts. Victory sees Racing go third two points adrift of leaders Toulon, who thrashed 14 man Brive 53-13 on Friday, although the standings can change later Tom Watson plays a shot in this file photo. with Clermont and Stade Francais capable of tak- ing over at the top should they beat Lyon at home and Montpellier away respectively.