GOLF:NO BETTER man to take things on the chin, or to mince his words when the need requires it, Graeme McDowell – seeking to repair the damage of a chastening experience – indulged in some necessary soul-searching on an overnight flight en route from Florida to Spain after a final round 79 in The Players Championship at Sawgrass on Sunday which he described as "ugly" and rated as "up there in my top-10 worst last rounds ever".
Negative thoughts? Nope, just a determination to take on board as much positives from the harsh lesson inflicted on him where he became a bit player in a drama eventually won by South Korean KJ Choi who outlasted American David Toms in a play-off.
And, for McDowell, the realisation that, in his chosen sport, a player has the immediate opportunity to make things right: in his case, in this week’s Volvo World Matchplay Championship at Finca Cortesin, near Marbella, in Spain. McDowell – along with Rory McIlroy, whose own Masters meltdown brought a degree of understanding of his fellow-Ulsterman’s plight – is competing in the €3.4 million tournament which is confined to 24 players, including six of the leading nine players from the current world rankings.
Not one for self-pity, McDowell’s reaction to his last-round failings, when he plunged from first to a finishing position of 33rd, was to accept responsibility. “We live and we learn and we’ll be back,” he said. In point of fact, McDowell has used poor finishing rounds in the past as a learning tool. He shot an 81 in the closing round of the 2005 US Open at Pinehurst and had a 79 to finish in the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot.
Of his final-round travails, McDowell – whose first of three water balls in the final round came on the seventh – said: “I made a bomb on five to really get going and I stand up on six and just make a negative swing and hit it in the right trees. I stand up on seven and react and hit it left in the water. At that point, I just felt the life drain out of me. My energy levels went . . . I just didn’t have it.”
He added: “There was an element of physical fatigue, but I think it was physical fatigue brought on by a few bogeys at the wrong time. It was a long day (31 holes, including completing his third round which left him with a one-stroke lead going into the final round) and I just couldn’t get any momentum. I couldn’t seem to read the grain (on the greens), couldn’t hole anything. It was just a bad day at the office . . . there were a few tired swings coming in, my legwork was sloppy and, yeah, it was a pretty ugly finish.”
McDowell, despite falling away as his final round unravelled to leave playing partners Choi and Toms to fight it out for the big prize, refused to be down-hearted. “Two weeks ago, I was in pieces with my golf game and I found a little bit (at Sawgrass). That last round was up there in my top-10 worst last rounds ever. So, you know, that’s going to hurt a little bit . . . but I’ll try to respond positively. It was probably my first time under the gun in a little while, so it’s kind of getting back into the old vibes again.”
Maybe it is a good thing that McDowell doesn’t have too long to reflect on what might have been or where it all went so horribly wrong, or in his own part in slipping from a likely winner to an also ran. This week, the Ulsterman plays in the World Matchplay in Spain, followed by next week’s European flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, and then a return to Celtic Manor for the defence of his Welsh Open title.
And, of course, an even bigger title defence looms with next month’s defence of the US Open at Congressional. By the time he gets there, he will be even more battle hardened; and perhaps the lessons of Sawgrass may be worth it.
McDowell’s closing 79 was in stark contrast to the 70s forged by Choi and Toms, with the American likely to look back with regret on a decision to go for the par-five 16th green in two only to find water with his approach. On the first play-off hole, the notorious par three 17th to an island green, both found the putting surface: Choi two-putted from 40 feet, Toms three-putted from 18.
