Paul Noel McGinley (born 16 December 1966) is an Irish professional golfer who has won four events on the European Tour. At the 2002 Ryder Cup, he famously holed a ten-foot putt on the 18th hole in his match against Jim Furyk at The Belfry which won the Ryder Cup for Europe. He was the winning captain of Europe in the 2014 Ryder Cup and the first Irishman to captain Europe's Ryder Cup side. Early years McGinley was raised in Rathfarnham and was educated at St Mary's BNS and Coláiste Éanna. His father Mick — who is from Dunfanaghy — played Gaelic football for Donegal, while his mother Julia comes from Rathmullan. McGinley himself was born in Dublin and studied at Dublin Institute of Technology. After his knee injury McGinley turned his full attention to golf. McGinley later said that when he played golf as part of a team it helped to raise his game to another level. He credited his experience of Gaelic football for his passion for team sports and suggested it played a part in why he was appointed European captain for the 2014 Ryder Cup. McGinley won the 1989 Irish Amateur Close Championship and the 1991 South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch Golf Club. He was selected for the 1991 Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team at Portmarnock Golf Club, just north of Dublin, where a strong American team that included Phil Mickelson beat Britain & Ireland 14–10. Professional career McGinley turned professional in late 1991 and joined the European Tour in 1992, aged 25. In 1993, he lost a playoff to Costantino Rocca in the French Open. In 1994, McGinley lost a playoff to José María Olazábal in the Open Mediterrania. McGinley eventually won his first title on the European Tour at the 1996 Hohe Brücke Open (formerly known as the Austrian Open). In 1997 he won the World Cup of Golf for Ireland with Pádraig Harrington (who attended the same secondary school, Coláiste Éanna, as McGinley). At the 2001 Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open, McGinley won the tournament on the fifth extra hole of a playoff in an event that was so badly disrupted by torrential rain that it was reduced to just 36 holes. After his victory, McGinley quipped: "Goran Ivanišević said God sent the rain for him at Wimbledon and maybe he sent it for me too!" McGinley's best finish in one