Confidence holds the key for McGinley.

Byline: MICHAEL SCULLY

IT'S two years since Paul McGinley got himself into contention at Carnoustie, where he saw his old buddy Padraig Harrington seize his destiny and the glory.

On that occasion McGinley had only a handful of players to catch ahead of him but it proved beyond his powers.

Fast forward to 2009 and although he's seven shots off the lead at Turnberry going into the weekend, he is a solid links player and is in the middle of it.

A big round today could give him a chance on Sunday but the Dubliner hasn't won since the Volvo Masters almost four years ago and confidence could be holding him back.

"Well that's the thing, confidence, isn't it? I've had a pretty poor year up to now and yeah my confidence is low, there's no doubt about that," said McGinley.

"I can't go around saying, 'yes, I'm full of confidence'.

"So when you've had a long run like I've had of playing pretty averagely, it's tough."

But he can take a lot from his Open second round.

Playing in the group behind Harrington, a dreadful start that consisted of three bogeys in the first five holes left him on four over par and in danger of missing the cut.

He found a birdie on seven only to give it back on the ninth green, but fought back in tremendous fashion to hit birdies on 12, 14 and 17 before an unfortunate closing bogey.

"That was so great about today," the 42-year-old acknowledged.

"My back was to the wall, I came back and shot a great back nine to make the cut and get myself pretty much into the middle of the pack - and, you know, confidence comes from good performances, and that was a good performance.

"That was a good nine holes, it gets me in the middle of the tournament and a strong weekend would be a great stepping stone for me for the rest of the season."

CAPTION(S):

SMILES BETTER Paul McGinley is feeling positive