These practice days shouldn’t be taken too seriously. On the par five ninth hole yesterday, Graeme McDowell’s tee shot plunged into heavy rough down the left. He found the ball, but didn’t bother to play it. Instead, he walked about 30 yards further up the fairway and dropped the ball onto a nice lie on the short grass. It didn’t help. He pushed his next shot – a hard three-wood – into the water.
No, you wouldn’t want to take such matters to heart! And, if anything, ironing out such glitches in your game are what days such as these are all about.
McDowell hasn't played since the BMW in Denver but honed his game on the range at Lake Nona last week where he had Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson for company. He is up for this match to the extent that he wants to play in all five sessions. No fear.
For McDowell, this Ryder Cup – his fourth – is one where he edges ever-closer to being one of those leaders in the locker room. He is a new dad, looking for what he calls the "nappy effect" to kick in, just as it did for Paul Casey when recently winning the KLM Open.
Winning team
Two years ago at Medinah, on a winning team for the second straight time, McDowell found it “fractionally disappointing” after a week that ended with Europe dramatically winning but the Northern Irishman taking just one point from four matches.
"At the end of the day, this is a team competition. Hero or villain or somewhere in between, it doesn't really matter, as long as we can pick the Ryder Cup up on Sunday night. I'd take a disappointing week again for me if we could win. I'd sacrifice that.
“Of course, I think we are all very proud individuals and we want to play as well as we possibly can. I feel like I come in here this week a lot more prepared than I was two years ago. I was low on energy. I was physically not where I need to be, didn’t play the way I would like to.”
What’s for sure is that McDowell has experienced every kind of emotion in his three Ryder Cups.
“The greatest golf experiences of my life,” he admitted, having played so well on a losing team in Valhalla in 2008, claiming the winning point at Celtic Manor in 2010 and hitting the opening tee-shot of the 2012 Miracle at Medinah. “Win, lose or draw, I’m going to give it 110 per cent this week and see what happens come Sunday evening,” he said.
Yesterday McDowell got back into the swing of things, playing a round alongside Victor Dubuisson – a likely fourball partner – and Henrik Stenson.
Team ethos
McDowell has embraced the team ethos. His wife and baby daughter are at home in Florida but there is a different sense of belonging here.
“There’s nothing quite like the team atmosphere. There’s nothing quite like playing for each other in a game which is innately very individual. The game is selfish and we look out for ourselves week-in and week-out, and it’s individual achievement and you live and die by your own achievement.
“When you come this week and play for each other and play for another 11 team-mates, and the bonds that you develop this week, the kind of openness that everyone kind of has. We’re all very protective of our secrets and our ethos and the things we do to try to become the best players we can be. I think we are all very open books this week and we share and we’re all united towards the one task. We’ll do anything for each other this week. It’s a very, very special thing to be involved in.”
