Mad dash home for a relaxing Monday

TEE TO GREEN:Time to go for it now as my schedule for the coming months is set and it promises to be a very exciting summer

ONE OF my favourite things in life is to be home in Portrush on the Monday after a tournament, which on this occasion entailed a mad dash to the airport after the final round of the Madrid Masters on Sunday.

Of course, I’d have been really happy if I had been required to stay around for the presentation – an honour that went to Luke Donald, a quality winner – and although a fourth place finish represented a good week’s work, it left me with a tight timeline to make flights back home.

We were off the course at 5.05pm and had a 6.30pm flight – Easy Jet to Liverpool – to catch and we made it. Then, from Liverpool I had the luxury of a private jet to Derry which meant I could put my feet up yesterday.

I could relax, read the newspapers and enjoy a couple of cups of coffee. These types of Monday, at home, are really important to preserve your sanity and provide you with freshness of mind at a time of the season when you could be three, four or five weeks on the go at one stretch.

I’m facing into a busy time of the season and, thankfully, staying in the world’s top-50 after the BMW PGA at Wentworth meant I could solidify my schedule without worrying about going to qualifying for the US Open or the Open Championship.

In fact, I’d made up my mind not to go to Walton Heath for US Open qualifying regardless of whether I stayed inside the top-50 or not as I felt that the Madrid Masters was a big tournament in its own right and one which you had to prepare for properly.

The golfing gods gave me a break, and I got into Pebble Beach and St Andrews anyway.

A fourth place finish in Madrid confirmed what I’d believed about my game: I am playing well, and it is just a matter of holing a few putts and getting into the mix. It was good to get into contention, although the damage was done in Saturday’s third round with regard to challenging.

I wasn’t quite on my game, particularly with my iron play, and left myself too much to do on Sunday. But Luke was a good winner. He is playing great and he looks to be a lock in for the Ryder Cup team later this year.

I’ve moved up to 44th in the latest world rankings and the plan is to kick on now on the back of this result in Madrid and move towards a place in the world’s top-20, which is where I feel I am good enough to belong.

My lowest world ranking was 28th a couple of years ago but, for the most part, I feel as if I’ve been floating between 30 and 50 in the rankings for the past three years.

That brings its own demands in terms of looking at the cut-off points for the majors and the world golf championships, the biggies, but I’m aware there are just so many good players out there and that’s why you have to be getting top-five finishes rather than 10th or 15th or 20th to get the big boost in the rankings. Now, after Madrid, I feel I can kick on and get myself up the world rankings.

If you were to look at the statistics on the European Tour, it’ll show I am number one in greens in regulation.

That’s one statistic that doesn’t lie – it tells you how well you are playing tee-to-green. But you have to be careful how you use statistics.

We meet up with the guys from strokeaverage.com every couple of months for a detailed analysis of my statistics and undertake an in-depth review of our game. Statistics can be misleading, so you have got to understand them.

My caddie, Kenny Comboy, is very good at analysing the game. He also plots every shot, is able to tell me where I’m missing the green – left or right – and is a great man to give a neutral opinion post-round. And, on days where I haven’t felt great, he’ll remind me that I’ve actually hit 15 greens-in-regulation.

The important thing to take from statistics is to use them to learn, to improve and, most importantly, to find where you’re going with your game.

My schedule for the summer is set: I’m playing the Wales Open this week, then a week off before heading to the US Open at Pebble Beach. After that, it is back for the French Open, the JP McManus Pro-Am, the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, the British Open, the Irish Open and then the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone and the US PGA.

It’s a great schedule and it promises to be a very exciting summer.

From now on, I plan to put the head down and go for it.

• For further information on Graeme McDowell, check out www.graememcdowell.com