WHEN DESTINY calls, it can often come as a mere whisper; a gentle murmur to acknowledge that your time is drawing nearer. Yesterday, on this cliff top course hanging on the edge of the Monterey peninsula, Graeme McDowell – who has competed in 11 previous majors but contended only infrequently in them – took a huge career stride as he assumed the clubhouse halfway lead in the 110th US Open here at Pebble Beach.
Dressed from head-to-toe in solemn black, as if to show the utmost respect for a links which induces its fair share of pain on players, McDowell again affirmed he has the temperament for the big time. He proved it at the Ryder Cup in Valhalla in 2008, but – in career terms – this is an examination that poses the ultimate question. He’s headed into the biggest weekend of his golfing life, and he’s pursued by a posse that spans the generations: the Old Hand in Ernie Els, the Young Gun in Dustin Johnson, and the Bashful Prince in Ryo Ishikawa.
Ah, this is what big-time players thrive on; and there is a sense that McDowell has served his apprenticeship in the majors and is finally ready to take the next big step.
Time, of course, will tell. But two years ago when he won the Scottish Open the week before the British Open, he arrived at Hoylake and finished up as co-leader after the first round only to burn himself out thereafter. It was an important lesson learned.
Yesterday, though, he did so much right. In fashioning six birdies and three bogeys – the last of them a three-putt on the ninth, his last – McDowell shot a 68 to reach the midpoint on 139, three under. Els, too, shot a 68 – to be on 141 alongside Johnson, winner of the AT and T Pro-Am here the past two years – and Japan’s phenomenal teenager Ishikawa. Elsewhere, there was also drama. Tiger Woods, still struggling to regain full control of the ball, both off the tee and around the greens, shot a 72 for 146 to be seven shots adrift of McDowell.
It was an at times adventurous round for Woods, which included a chip-in birdie – his first of the championship having gone birdieless on Thursday – on the 11th, his second hole, but also saw him take a penalty drop on the third after a pulled drive into the hay down the left of the fairway. Even so, Woods – playing only his fifth tournament of the year – insisted he liked his position. “Absolutely,” he responded. “I’m right there in the championship. I just need to make a few more birdies, a few more putts on the weekend, and I will be right there.”
Likewise, Lee Westwood, a winner of the St Jude Classic in Memphis last Sunday, had a 71 for 145 which had him leaving the course with a smile. “It’s not a bad position. You can’t attack a US Open course, you have to play patient golf and you just have to hang around and not be too aggressive. I feel I can hang around for the next 36 holes and perhaps on Sunday afternoon have a chance. I don’t think anybody’s going to run away with this.” Els, a winner of two US Opens, remarked: “I love the set-up. It’s firm. It’s fast. I didn’t like the greens too much yesterday but other than that I think it is one of the better set-ups I’ve seen at the US Open.”
For yesterday’s round, the USGA decided not to mow the rough – and won’t do so for the remainder of the championship, which will result in the grass standing more upright and becoming more inconsistent. Also, the tee markers were moved forward on a number of tees – most noticeably on the 18th, where it was moved up 20 yards to encourage players go for the green in two – and corrective handwatering was applied to the greens in an attempt to eradicate bumpiness as the round progressed.
On a day when some players, among them Sergio Garcia and Paul Goydos attempted recovery shots from the seaweed down on the rocks, with different degrees of success, and others played shots from the beach after wayward drives, McDowell played a round of steadiness that also featured some excellent shotmaking. Despite starting his round with a bogey on the 10th, where he found a fairway bunker off the tee, McDowell responded with a birdie on the 11th where he nearly holed out with a gap wedge from 95 yards and was left with little more than a tap-in.
Another bogey came on the 12th where he was again bunkered, but a 40-footer for birdie on the 14th kick-started his round and further birdies at the 16th and 18th had him turning in 34. McDowell also came back in 34 – on the front nine – with birdies on the fourth, a right-to-left breaking putt from 20 feet, and sixth, from six feet, before finishing with a three-putt bogey on the ninth. “It’s great to be in position going into the weekend. That’s what I practice for. I’ve got two more tough days on this golf course, and I’m just trying to stay disciplined and stay calm and keep doing what I’m doing,” he said.
