Across the Seven Seas: The take of Graeme McDowell
Reflecting on his year, Graeme McDowell, the golfer, has the following to say “It’s the stuff of dreams — 2010 has been the stuff of dreams,’’ and indeed what a year it has been for the man from Northern Ireland.
The player known as golf’s modest champion, for his camera shy ways has shown great promise these past two years. His unassuming ways endear him to the audience and he is quickly becoming the household favourite. Apart from his charm, the golfer has also shown immense promise on the course this year. His final putt, which won him the US Open, is mainly responsible for earning him a place under the global spotlight.
Graeme takes delight in the simple life and is firmly rooted to the North Coast, where he lives in a relatively humble area. He can be often found in a sea front cafe, with tea and a crossword in hand. “It keeps me grounded,” he says. “This isn’t a particularly wealthy part of the world, but I’ve always liked it. Money is not the driving factor”. Surprising comments indeed, coming from one of the world’s most elite golfers and especially considering the celebrity that comes with the job. In a world where sports personalities are becoming increasingly hard to distinguish from the reality show stars, Graeme McDowell is like a breath of fresh air. No wonder we adore the Irishman so much!
At this time last year, McDowell was barely a recognized entity on the golf course, with just a second place at the Chevron World Challenge in his bag to boast about. However, this event started a series of very fortunate events for the 31-year-old, by securing a position for him in the Masters. He barely managed to maintain his position in the top 50 of the world rankings and thus qualified for the US Open.
McDowell captured the US Open title at Pebble Beach to become the first European to have won the title in 40 years! He not only won the title but showed off the stuff he was made of by holding his own against golf greats such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and grabbing the title form right under their nose.
More recently, McDowell can be commended for his superb performance at the Chevron World Challenge, which he won with a birdie on the first extra hole. What has impressed even more was the calm and collected McDowell, who did not let the pressure of playing against the great Tiger Woods get to him. Yes, Woods awful game contributed to the win but the match was in fact a tight duel on the back nine.
"It's been amazing," McDowell said. "I put that up there to play with him this weekend and to do it again it's definitely another highlight of 2010. It would have been pretty easy to kick back with the great things I've achieved this year. But to finish as strong as I have and to win twice in the last six weeks, I'm very proud of myself as well."
It will be of interest to our readers to note that this was the first time that Woods has ever lost a tournament while leading by at least three shots going into the final round.
However, even though this is the first year that McDowell has gained some global attention, he is no stranger when it comes to success on the course. During his college years, Graeme was ranked Number One Collegiate golfer in the States. He won an amazing 6 events out of 12 and that too with a stroke average of 69.6. This smashed all previous records held by the Englishmen Luke Donald and Tiger Woods. Calling his amateur career just successful would be the understatement of the century.
The golfer, affectionately known as GMac is now all set to dominate the PGA Tour in Hawaii. The tour kicks off with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions; but, before that the player is heading back home to Ireland for a well deserved albeit short holiday.
It has been one h**l of a year for the Irishmen and his luck shows no sign of running out anytime soon. We think it is safe to say that McDowell is the man to watch this coming PGA Tour.
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