Graeme McDowell lauds Nicolas Colsaerts’ impressive performance in Volvo World Match Play Championship
The 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell played brilliantly last week to stay ahead of the rest of the field in the nail-biting showdown in the Volvo World Match Play Championship and had to settle for a disappointing runner up finish after being thrashed
by the Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.
The Northern Irishman, who surged to stardom with his victory at Pebble Beach in 2010, is without a victory since December 2010 and has come close to breaking his winless streak several times in his bids last year.
Fighting ceaseless form vows for almost two years, McDowell has now dropped down on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) from his once high of number five.
Regardless of his sad loss, McDowell still holds Colsaerts in high regards and believes that the Belgian deserved the victory more than him.
He said, “I'm disappointed obviously. But I'm taking nothing away from Nicolas, he played fantastic golf. He's got a great wind game and he's a fantastic talent - I got beat by the better man”.
McDowell further added, "He really killed me off the tee box and flighted his irons fantastic. I would have preferred to get beat with birdies as opposed to pars, but that's just the way the course was set up this week. But he had to deal with the same elements
I did and that's life”.
The final showdown of the two giants started off later in the afternoon where both players switched lead on no fewer than three occasions.
Being one of the longest hitters on the European Tour, Colsaerts have been in contention in several events since the start of the year and had been contemplating a victory ahead of the major events in the year.
McDowell had a phenomenal run in the year 2010 when he clinched the Celtic Manor Wales Open title on the European Tour and went over to bag the coveted US Open title in June 2010.
He closed the year with a thrilling performance at Andalucía Valderrama Masters after his brilliant knock in the final round in Ryder Cup the same year.
He defeated rampaging Hunter Mahan in the individual round at Celtic Manor to guide the European Team to a historic victory.
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