"Eiregate"

As expected, England's finest pounced on the Paul McGinley Vice Captain resignation story with glee. Really, anything to not have to pen a Seve Trophy preview story.

McGinley assuredly wrapped up some sort of media relations award for this act of kindness.

Mark Garrod and Peter Dixon file pieces (here and here) looking at the sequence of events while Derek Lawrenson comes out and says what most assumed:

Faldo became dead meat in Ireland from the moment he overlooked their sporting hero Paul McGinley for one of his Seve wild cards. With Padraig Harrington having withdrawn, it meant no Irishman in the team.

'Eiregate' duly escalated yesterday when McGinley, privately furious at not being chosen, announced his resignation as one of Faldo's vice-captains for next year's Ryder Cup at Valhalla, Kentucky.

Wisely, the Dubliner chose not to make it personal in his official statement, saying: 'It was a great honour to be chosen by Nick but, on reflection and after careful consideration, I feel it is in my best interests to concentrate on playing my way into the team.'

McGinley will be a great asset if he can find his true form once more. But, equally, Faldo can hardly be blamed — outside Ireland, anyway — for feeling that he knows everything about the 40-year-old's estimable qualities and plumping instead for two young guns in form in Simon Dyson and Marc Warren, recent winner of the Johnnie Walker Championship.

And Lawrence Donegan weighed in with this...

The timing was also curious, coming as it did on the eve of the Seve Trophy match between a team from Great Britain and Ireland, captained by Faldo, and a European squad led by Seve Ballesteros. There have been suggestions in golfing circles that McGinley was bemused by Faldo's decision not to select him as a wild-card pick for his squad, especially as it would have given the Irishman some valuable insight into the European captain's thinking on team matters before next year's Ryder Cup.

For all his greatness as a golfer, Faldo has long had a reputation for being a high-handicapper when it comes to personal relations. McGinley's departure in such circumstances will have done little to change the mind of those who suspect there will more upheaval within European ranks before a ball is struck in anger in Kentucky.