Graeme McDowell Wins US Open Golf at Pebble Beach
Graeme McDowell, the golfer from Northern Ireland, believes that after years of hard work, his career is finally heading in the right direction, as he won his first major title claiming victory at the US Open at Pebble Beach.
McDowell, who is now 30 years old, finally ended a 40-year drought for Europe at the US Open, holding off a strong challenge from Gregory Havret of France to win by a single shot.
After the win, a jubilant McDowell said that no matter how good a player may be, careers are always determined by number of major wins, and after winning his first, he is sure that this will lead to many more big wins in the years to come.
The man from Northern Ireland said that it was a great honour for him to be listed alongside the greats of the game such as Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Tom Kite and Tom Watson, all Pebble Beach winners; he said that all these names are absolute legends of the game, and he does not quite know if he belongs in that elite list.
McDowell was trailing Dustin Johnson by three shots at the start of the final round, but did not lose his cool, managing to card 74 in the final round to get to level-par total. Luck was on his side, as his American competitor played 11 over par of 82, which saw him drop down to 8th.
The problems for Johnson began with a triple bogey 7, and he went on to drop further 2 shots at the third. Meanwhile, McDowell continued to dominate, and till the ninth had not dropped a single shot.
McDowell added that he tried his best to go according to his plan, which in simple words was not to panic no matter what happens, and that is exactly what he did. Some calm swings got him on the verge of victory; he made sure he did not follow the pattern of playing false strokes out of frustration, which his fellow golfers did.
McDowell carried on to say that he continued to do the same for 10 holes. After he bogeyed 9 and 10, he just could not get a good drive on the 11th; at that point he checked the leader board and knew he had a great chance.
The fact that Gregory Havret was the one closest to him was a big surprise. Not to undermine the ability of Gregory, but with players like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els in the contest, one certainly does not expect Gregory Havret to be the one giving you competition.
His level-headed approach was most evident on the last hole, where he started the par-five 18th green having a lead of just one shot against Havret. And luck was in his favour yet again, as the Frenchman missed his chance of a birdie, and McDowell decided to play his 2nd shot short of green.
That is pretty much when the match championship turned in his favour.
McDowell, who hails from Portrush, came into the tournament after winning the Welsh Open at Celtic Manor just a few days ago. After the win, he said that it is still hard for him to believe that he was able to win this major, and now he believes he can win many more tournaments.
Havret, who is currently ranked 391 in the world, was understandably disappointed, as he came close (finishing just one stroke behind McDowell) but did not manage to win. He said that he holed a 50-footer to win a playoff at Walton Heath to qualify for this major tournament, and could barely believe his luck when he found himself in the company of legends like Tiger Woods. Therefore, he would take a lot of positives back, despite not being able to win the tournament.
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