Graeme McDowell was watching television the other night, a rerun of the US Open finale with Dustin Johnson playing the final hole. But it wasn't Johnson's travails on the 72nd green at Chambers Bay which most registered with G-Mac, it was his tee shot.
“I’d like to know what it feels like to hit those drives, it was about as good a tee shot as I have seen . . . . only in my wildest dream am I going to hit one of those,” said McDowell, after finishing with a third round 70 for 214, two-under-par.
If there was a time when McDowell had sought to add extra yardage onto his drives, he now accepts he must work with what he has got.
“I’ve tried that, been there and done that. I didn’t like it . . . . I’ve been through the process of trying to slash the driver and I can’t get anything more out of it. I’m just trying to hit it in the fairways again, just accepting the fact that I’m going to get to venues and I’m going to be frustrated that the big boys are hitting it 50 yards by me. I just have to deal with it and move on.”
For much of yesterday’s third round, it seemed as if McDowell had indeed moved on, although his driver played a teasing role. Obeying one moment, ignoring him the next; and, although he conjured up eight birdies, it wasn’t all magic and he added two double bogeys and two bogeys to his card. “I played lovely, but I drove the ball disgusting. I’m not really quite sure what’s wrong with my driving of the ball. . . and everything else is pretty good,” he said.
It has been a tough old time for McDowell these past few months, with just one top-10 so far this year and that back at the Dubai Desert Classic. But there are signs of a revival. “There’s a pulse, there’s life. You know, I am in there somewhere . . . I’m enjoying the process. It’s tough at times, but like I say, there’s signs of life.
“I’m hitting it really solidly. Ball-striking is much, much better than it has been in a long time, and the chipping and putting is right there. Just got to wait, got to be patient. My time will come.”
Good point
He added: “I’m past the doubting phase of the process. The doubts were sort of three, four, five months ago. I’m out of the doubt phase. I’m back to the starting to enjoy the game phase and hitting some good shots phase. It’s there.
“I feel like I’m starting to get to the good point of the process, which is when I start to see some scores coming together, and I’m really close to that. Apart from half a dozen loose drives over the last three days, you know, tee to green, my ball-striking has been really, really good, and I’m pretty happy with that.”
McDowell – who will play in this week’s Canadian Open once his work is done here on the Old Course – also expressed the opinion that, perhaps, the time had come for some tweaking of the links due to many of the 112 bunkers being out of play for so many of the big-hitters.
Modern times
“You start to see an old test like this one and start to wondering what they can do with it to keep it up to sort of modern times. I don’t think you’ve got to go put a ton of yardage . .if this golf course just had a tiny bit more rough and the bunkers were slightly up to modern yardages, you know, I think this golf course is still all there in front of you. .”
