Golf: Graeme McDowell savours a high finish despite thriving pressure
Graeme McDowell managed to kick dust in the eyes of critics who condemned his change of clubs. The Northern Irish star fired a score of 62 on the weekend with the Srixon wedges and irons.
The 31-year-old veteran signed a deal with Srixon, a Japanese manufacturer in the first week of January 2011 and carried their clubs to Hawaii, where he competed for Tournament of Champions. The winner of US Open kicked off slowly
as he got himself accustomed to the new ball and gear.
The end-of-the-day score left him in the midst of confusion, when his Green Hits in Regulation hovered over 94, which was excellent for the starters but despite that, he finished on the brink of trouble.
The slow pace accounted for McDowell getting familiar with the course, which is why he attempted very few birdies in the nine-hole session. It is quite apparent with his stats from last four triumphs. The veteran opened with a 68 at
US Open and gradually took it to 17-under by the end of the weekend to carve a victory. He carried the same style of attack to California where he battled Tiger Woods and rose from fourth spot to the top.
The critics neglected the risk-averse part of his personality and started predicting a defeat for him with the new gear.
Despite the criticism, McDowell held tight and pulled a score of five-under-par in his Srixon bag against a loss of one hole. Once again, his putting and driving distance stats portrayed a stable status, but his overall finish on the
leaderboard suggested otherwise.
The world number five stayed vaulted to 68 for the second round, but his putting average improved and his driving distance climbed folds.
With the arrival of weekend, the winner of Golf Writer Association Award 2010 decided to put away the fear of failure and explored the Plantation Course with utmost confidence. He chose the front nine as his battleground and roared
through the first nine holes with six birdies. The best shade of his winning style showed on the fifth hole, when he had to birdie his way out from a bunker. The Irish beautifully handled his sand wedge and shot the ball piercing through the mist right into
the hole.
That was not all. The veteran marched the back nine with Callaway driver and Srixon irons in his hands, while birdying nearly all the holes in his way. He picked five more points at the closing holes and soared up the leaderboard with
190 FedEx points.
After occupying the third spot, McDowell spoke to the press in revolting confidence.
He said, “I'm very happy with the day's work. Obviously when you go into a final round that far back and you know the scoring is going to be good, there's nothing you can do really but just put the head down and try and have a great day yourself. I played
great today,” he said. “I just hit the ball a lot closer to the hole. I did not really put my putter under a whole lot of pressure. It's just great to go low.”
Graeme McDowell did not start the Professional Golfers Association tour with a lead, but he did savour a top-three finish with his new gear. The world number five proved the critics that it took players’ prowess to score high rather than a set of new clubs.
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