Trying to find his way back toward the top of the World Golf Rankings, Graeme McDowell is headed for Mexico.OHL Classic at Mayakoba
McDowell, once No. 7 in the world but down to No. 82 last week, is one of eight major champions who will play this week in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba at El Camaleon Golf Club in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Despite the lack of great results, McDowell is happy with the direction his game is going.
“It’s been building really sort of since the beginning of August,” the 36-year-old Northern Irishman said recently. “I took some time off after the PGA Championship and just cleared my head a little bit, and I’ve really been enjoying this run of golf I’m on.
“I feel like momentum is building. I’ve had a few knock-backs on back nines on Sundays, but getting to those back nines on Sundays, that’s been the key, and that’s been the part that’s missing. So taking the odd hit is not a bad thing, really.”
McDowell, who claimed seven of his 13 professional victories in five seasons beginning in 2010, when he captured the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and scored the winning point for Europe in the Ryder Cup, has not won since successfully defending his title in the 2014 Alstom Open de France.
His only top-10 finish this year came when he tied for ninth in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on the first day of February, but he believes things started to turn around when he tied for 17th in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone in August.
That was the bright spot as he missed the cut in four of his last six cuts on the PGA Tour and failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
“My driver has been a little bit of a problem this year,” said McDowell, a lifelong bachelor until he married Kristin Stape in 2013 and is now balancing family life and golf after the birth of their daughter. “(Driving is) normally one of my weapons, as you guys know. It’s been putting a lot of pressure on my putting at the other end, and I haven’t putted well consequently. But that’s more to the fact that I’ve needed the putts too badly.
“But driving the ball in the fairway has been a little bit of an issue, and I’m driving it much better here the last couple months, so … you have to keep yourself in the short grass. …
“I’m really happy the progress I’ve been making. It’s been a tough year, but looking to finish strong and moving to 2016 with some good vibes.”
McDowell was hoping for that big push at the end of the year to come in the Euro Tour’s Race to Dubai, but two weeks ago in the first event of the Final Series, the Turkish Airlines Open, he opened with 70-65, then played the weekend in 73-75. He finished in a tie for 37th.
That left him 65th in the point standings, five spots out of the top 60 who advanced to round two of the final four last week in the WGC-HSBC Champions, which he led for 54 holes before tying for third last year.
The early elimination started him on his way to Mexico, but he is still talking a good game.
“I think I’m really close,” said McDowell, whose finish in the HSBC was his only top-10 result on the PGA Tour in the 2015-16 season. “Been hitting it much better the last few months. (It started) … at the Dunhill Links (where he tied for 19th), there or thereabouts the British Masters (tied for 30th, both in October). Just some bad back nines on Sundays.
“I feel like I’m really close. It has not been the kind of year I’d hoped for, but that’s the game of golf. You’ve got to take the rough with the smooth. Got to keep working and keep trying. So I feel like sort of turning the corner and the motivation, the confidence is coming back to me, and looking forward to being on leaderboards very soon.”
Unlike Paul Casey, who also married an American, lives in the United States most of the year and gave up his European Tour membership, McDowell plans to continue playing both major tours.
The McDowells own homes in Portrush, Northern Ireland and Orlando, Fla., and Graeme will continue going back and forth, for now.
“I think when you’re playing both sides of the Atlantic and trying to keep both cards, you end up cherry-picking the best events all the time, and the best events sometimes mean the toughest events,” said McDowell, who has won 10 times on the Euro Tour, with his only U.S. victory other than the U.S. Open coming in the 2013 RBC Heritage.
“You’re playing tough golf courses against the best fields, and if you’re not on your game, you can get beat up pretty quickly.”
Down in Mexico against a solid field, yet one that does not include a single player in the world top 10, perhaps he can start making a move back up.
–Story courtesy of The Sports Xchange, TSX Golf Editor Tom LaMarre
