Irish golf and the European Tour knew it had a special talent on its hands when Graeme McDowell turned professional in 2002 and won just his fourth event on the circuit, but it was only yesterday, eight years later, that his true potential was realised.
By ending a 40-year European drought at the United States Open and by becoming Northern Ireland’s first major champion since Fred Daly won the 1947 Open, McDowell has moved into the superstar class.
It capped a remarkable turnaround in fortunes over the last month and stunning season for far for European golfers in America, after wins for Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and McDowell’s compatriot and soon-to-be Ryder Cup partner Rory McIlroy.
As he celebrates Ireland's fourth major win in the last 12 events, McDowell’s mind will probably go back four weeks, to when he went to bed after the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth unsure about his place in the world’s top 50, knowing that if he dropped out he would be involved the following day in 36 holes of qualifying at Walton Heath.
He stayed in by 0.05 ranking points and went to the Madrid Masters talking about a weight being lifted from his shoulders. After coming fourth in the Spanish capital — his best Tour finish since he won the Scottish Open two years ago — he moved on to the Wales Open and the same Celtic Manor course where he is certain now to earn a second Ryder Cup cap in October. He pulled off a stunning victory.
Having been in danger of missing the halfway cut, he fired weekend rounds of 64 and 63 to win by three.
“I feel like I’m in the form of my life right now — and I really feel I have a big event in me,” he said.
Amazingly, he had to wait only for his next tournament to deliver on his word.
Pebble Beach was the culmination of a career ignited by his time at the University of Alabama, where he was ranked the number one college player in the States, won six of 12 events in his final year and had a stroke average of 69.6.
That beat the previous record held by Tiger Woods and Luke Donald and alongside Donald he helped Britain and Ireland retain the Walker Cup in Georgia.
Despite winning the Scandinavian Masters soon after joining the paid ranks, he lost out as Rookie of the Year to another team-mate in Nick Dougherty, but in 2004 rose to sixth on the money list after adding the Italian Open and four other top three finishes.
Two further wins in 2008 secured his Ryder Cup debut and at Valhalla he took 2 1/2 points out of four, partnering Poulter to a fourballs win and then beating Stewart Cink in the singles.
Little did anybody know then that it was a clash between the man who would win The Open last year and the US Open this year.
Special indeed — and with his 31st birthday still over a month away who knows what lies ahead? He has, after all, twice led The Open after the first day and now he knows what it takes to lead a major after all four days.
Graeme McDowell factfile
1979: Born Portrush, July 30th
1996: Wins Ulster Boys Championship.
1998: Attends the University of Alabama.
1999: Wins Irish Youths Championship.
2000: Further success in the Palmer Cup, Irish Amateur Maury Close Championship, Irish Youths Championship, World Universities Championship and South of Ireland Championship.
2001: Palmer Cup winner again and also part of Great Britain and Ireland team which retains Walker Cup in Georgia.
2002: Wins Haskins Award for most outstanding collegiate golfer in the United States. Later turns professional and goes on to win Scandinavian Masters in only his fourth start on the European Tour.
2004: Success in the Italia Open — after a play-off with Thomas Levet — helps him finish sixth on the European Tour Order of Merit.
2005: Divides his time between the European and PGA Tours and earns top-50 placing in the official world rankings.
2006: Fails to finish in the top 150 in 2006 PGA Tour money list.
2007: Competes on the European Tour.
2008: Wins Ballantine's Championship in Korea and Scottish Open. Earns 2.5 points for the European team in the Ryder Cup and finishes the season ranked fifth on the Order of Merit.
2010: June: Follows success in Celtic Manor Wales Open with victory in the US Open at Pebble Beach, becoming the first Northern Irishman to accomplish the feat and the first European to win the event since Tony Jacklin in 1970.