Graeme McDowell lines up his putt on the fourth hole during the fourth round of the Chevron World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club on 6 December 2009 in Thousand Oaks, California
It has been something of a blessing in disguise that Graeme McDowell has always been Northern Ireland’s ‘other’ golfer.
In his early days on tour he was overshadowed by the larger than life Darren Clarke, while more recently his achievements have been eclipsed by the meteoric rise to fame of Rory McIlroy.
In any other era the Portrush man would be the one hogging the headlines, although with his easy-going nature it’s easy to suspect he’s perfectly happy to leave the limelight to others.
But that’s not to suggest that he’s not a fiercely competitive individual who is not just content to enjoy the millionaire’s lifestyle his career has already afforded him.
His drive to qualify for last year’s Ryder Cup team — a lifetime ambition — demonstrated that amply and he became one of the standout performers on the European team with two and a half points in an otherwise disappointing defeat to the United States.
Despite top 20 finishes in the three Majors to be played in America this year, 2009 was something of a disappointment for the Ulsterman as he failed to build on the advances he made the previous season.
In 2008 as well as making it into Nick Faldo’s team for the doomed campaign at Valhalla, he brought his European Tour record up to four victories with thrilling wins
at the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea and then the Barclays Scottish Open.
It was a vindication of the substantial changes he made to his entire set-up as he left the International Sports Management group run by Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler in favour of the much more modest Dublin company Horizon Sports Management two years ago.
It was around that time that he hooked up with experienced caddie Ken Comboy, began working with sports psychologist Dr Karl Morris and went to renowned coach Pete Cowan.
It was all a response to losing his US Tour card at the end of the 2006 season when he felt his career needed a radical rethink as he had failed to live up to the promise his early career showed.
McDowell grew up playing his golf at Royal Portrush, taking up the game to spend time with his golf-mad father Kenny, and showed tremendous promise from an early age.
A great amateur career whilst a student at Coleraine Inst followed, culminating in a leading role in the 2001 Walker Cup victory over the United States at Sea Island in Georgia.
At that time he was attending the University of Alabama in Birmingham where he really began to make a name for himself as he was ranked number one collegiate golfer and won six events out of 12 starts with a stroke average of 69.6 — beating the previous best by Tiger Woods.
Living up to that early promise after turning professional in 2002, he won the Scandinavian Masters in only his fourth start on the European Tour and the world appeared to be at his feet.
Yet he would manage only one more win in the next six years, a Monday morning play-off victory at the 2004 Italian Open as he finished sixth in the Order of Merit that year.
The following year he made the fateful decision to play on both the European and PGA Tours, basing himself for much of the season at the house he bought from South African player Trevor Immelman at Lake Nona in Florida.
By his own admission that was a huge mistake as he plummeted down the world rankings and ultimately led to his decision to change management companies and the entire direction of his career.
At 30, McDowell is one of Ulster’s most eligible bachelors with no regular girlfriend, pots of money, and a great sense of style.
He is the cover star of January’s edition of Golf Monthly, pictured in his two favourite places, at home on the North Antrim coast and at his tailor’s, Louis Copeland and Sons in Dublin.
McDowell, an honorary life member at Royal Portrush, divides his time off between Northern Ireland and Florida, which has led to the ‘mid-Atlantic’ accent for which he is gently mocked when back home.
For a man with such a great sense of personal style — including the slightly wince-inducing self-penned ‘G-Mac’ nickname — he is curiously relaxed about the fact that not a commentator anywhere on television can ever pronounce his name properly. McDool is the closest they get.
“I don’t care what they call me, as long as they know who I am,” he says.
His manager Conor Ridge, who was with McDowell and McIlroy in China for their ultimately doomed attempt to bring the World Cup back to Ireland last month, acted smartly to get him into the 18-man field for last weekend’s Chevron Challenge after Woods had withdrawn from his own event.
And even though he didn’t win the tournament, his second place finish catapulted him back into the world’s top 40 which guarantees him entry to all of next year’s Majors and top events.
And he’s become accustomed to being at golf’s high table in the past couple of years and taking his place at places like the Augusta National for granted.
Being outside the top 50 — he was 55th before heading to California — had left him looking at a season when he had slipped backwards, but in one fell swoop he’s corrected all of that. So much for an ill-wind.
There is no obvious weakness to McDowell’s game even though in his own words he doesn’t possess the world’s greatest looking swing.
He’s consistent off the tee, a great approach player and has a wonderful touch on the greens.
He perhaps throws caution to the wind a little too much at times, over-estimating his abilities and taking on shots when the percentages are against him.
But, then, that’s what makes him the player he is — exciting to watch when birdie and bogey come along in equal measure.
It’s still going to be a tough battle for McDowell to claim his place back on next year’s Ryder Cup team, although should he fail to clinch an automatic spot, captain Colin Montgomerie will surely have to seriously consider him as a wild card, if only because of the obvious Ulster partnership with McIlroy.
A win, or two, in 2010 would nail his place but he is now at the stage of his career where he needs to be seriously in contention at the Majors if he is ever to land one of the big ones.
His links background would suggest that the Open Championship is his most likely avenue of success and he has form — leading after the first day of the 2006 Championship at Hoylake — to suggest anything is possible.
Whatever happens, 2010 promises to be another big year.
Ryder Cup 2010 Hospitality Deals Are Now Available In The Mareket At Very Afforable Pricess...
Ryder Cup Practice Day Hospitality Tue Sep 28, 2010
Ryder Cup Practice Day Hospitality Wed Sep 29, 2010
