The captain's able.

Well, he was until his very last hole. Golf can be a pretty mind-mangling pursuit at the best of times but trying to focus on your own game while your thoughts continue to drift to the form and fortunes of others is as perilous as juggling burning torches.

Paul McGinley, the European Ryder Cup captain, was certainly on fire during the opening round of the Scottish Open with a best-of-the-season 67 and he was eager to fan his competitive flames in round two at a blazing Castle Stuart yesterday. It was all going reasonably well, too. Seven-under for the championship playing his last hole – the ninth – McGinley watched his wedge from the rough spin back off the green and into a hollow. He ended up having to hole a putt of 20-feet just to salvage a double-bogey six in a 72 for a five-under 139.

Given he had made just two cuts in his previous eight events this season, the fact that he will simply be here for the weekend should be something to savour. McGinley has higher standards, though. Having been handed the Ryder Cup captaincy role for the 2014 match at Gleneagles, the 46-year-old Dubliner always knew that the all-consuming task would have some drawbacks for his own game. He has not stopped smiling since he was unveiled but this infuriating pursuit can easily induce plenty of girns and grimaces, particularly for a fiery competitor like McGinley. A six on your final hole doesn't help matters.

"I was cruising, I was seven under and I've thrown three or four shots away with my short game," said the four-time European Tour winner, who won the last of his titles in the Volvo Masters back in 2005. "But I'm lacking that competitiveness and that sharpness and ability to be able to turn three shots into two. It's sloppy too many times."

European qualifying for next September's transatlantic tussle begins at the Wales Open at the end of August and McGinley, who holed the winning putt in the 2002 match at The Belfry and has been a trusted and valuable vice-captain in the period since, is desperate to lead by example as the build up to the biennial bout gathers pace.

"I really want to be competitive; that's important for me," he said. "It still feels as good as ever when you get your game going. When you're in control of your game, like I've been for most of past two days, there's no feeling like it. Everybody said it was going to be tough, trying to mix the two, and they were right. But it's not unachievable. If I'm organised and know in my mind what I'm doing, there's still enough time to do everything. There's no excuses. I don't want to use the Ryder Cup captaincy as an excuse for my own game going downhill."

Given the standards he demands, Team Europe will be in very capable hands with this very able captain.