McDowell wins in Spain to take world No. 10 spot
Graeme McDowell continued his stellar 2010 yesterday, with victory at the Andalucia Valderrama Masters at the weekend propelling the Northern Irishman into the world top 10 for the first time.
McDowell, who was instrumental in Europe's Ryder Cup victory at Celtic Manor last month and won his first major in the summer with victory at the US Open, was the star performer in Spain yesterday, despite a disappointing final round that saw the 31-year-old come home three-over-par 74 on the day.
That left McDowell on three-under for the tournament, a score that was still enough to see him finish two strokes ahead of Gareth Maybin, Damien McGrane and Søren Kjeldsen, despite a late push from the Dane that saw him come home with a final round of two-under-par - remarkably, the lowest round of the day.
Kjeldsen, like Ireland's McGrane and Northern Ireland's Maybin, were all one-under for the tournament, McGrane double-bogeying the 16th and then bogeying the 17th and 18th to gift McDowell victory when it looked as if the eventual victor could be vulnerable. McDowell made just one birdie all day, but even with four bogeys - one of which came at the 18th - the Ulsterman's rivals just couldn't make him pay for his sloppiness.
Maybin in particular will be kicking himself, the 30-year-old starting with three consecutive bogeys on the opening three holes and carding a further four over the course of the back nine, two of which came on the final two holes.
Holland's Joost Luiten and Denmark's Thomas Björn were tied for fifth place on level par, with Spain's Ryder Cup hero Miguel Angel Jiménez tied for seventh place with France's Raphaël Jacquelin. And there were encouraging results for another of Spain's golfing heroes, both José Maria Olazábal and Sergio Garcia finishing in a tie for 10th place on four-over. Even if Garcia's last round was hardly the stuff of dreams, the out-of-sorts El Nino dropping shots left right and centre, four bogeys and a double on the 17th plus a solitary consolation birdie on the 15th.
All eyes had been on Martin Kaymer as the tournament began, but from day one the German was never really a factor. The 25-year-old finished tied for 21st place, seven-over for the tournament after a final round of four-over.
Had Kaymer won or finished second at Valderrama, he would have claimed the world No. 1 spot from Tiger Woods; as it is, Lee Westwood, still recovering from a calf injury and so not in the field this week, now takes that honour.
The good news for Kaymer is that the point differential between Westwood and himself, and indeed Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, is so slender that any of that quartet can take the top spot with a decent performance.
All four players are in action this week at the WGC HSBC Champions, as is Graeme McDowell, who may himself prove a possible contender for the No. 1 spot. Just not this week.
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