McDowell back in the hunt

THE ROLEX clock on the Royal and Ancient clubhouse edged towards 1.36pm as Graeme McDowell, who’d just struck his final tee shot of the second round, moved across the Swilcan Bridge and made a slight diversion towards the figure coming in the opposite direction down the first.

“Play well,” said G-Mac to Rory McIlroy as they briefly shook hands. “Good playing,” replied McIlroy.

And, indeed, McDowell – who had started his round some five hours earlier – had played well. In fact, his work was not yet finished as, upon reaching his drive which had finished 35 yards short and left of the 18th green, the Ulsterman played a deft pitch-and-run through the Valley of Sin which finished two feet from the hole. When he holed the putt, McDowell signed for a 68 for a midway total of 139, five under, which had moved him in to the thick of the hunt.

A month on from his US Open triumph, and McDowell was sniffing silverware once more.

“My focus felt a lot better,” explained McDowell, despite having a couple of uncharacteristic three-putts. “I’d a really, really strong finish. I’ve got myself back in to position,” he added, after a run of birdie-par-birdie over the closing three holes.

McDowell’s round ignited around the Loop, that run of holes around the turn. Having suffered what he termed a “clumsy” three-putt on the third and then incurred another on the fourth which threatened to derail him, his caddie Ken Comboy had a word in his ear which inspired a run of four birdies in five holes, including a run of three successive birdies from the seventh which had McDowell turning in 33.

With the wind gaining strength on the run home, it was a case of ensuring no disasters befell him – he rescued a bogey on the 12th when his drive got caught by the wind and finished in a gorse bush – and McDowell actually defied the general trend with a birdie on the 16th, a par on the tough 17th and a closing birdie.

On the 16th, McDowell drilled a four-iron approach into the wind that never got higher than 15 feet off the ground. “That was great,” he remarked. And, then, on the 18th, he used his imagination to create a bump and run like the shots he played growing up in Portrush.

“Kenny wanted me to fly it back there with a lob wedge, but the fairways are so tight and unforgiving and the wind was really howling . . . I listen to Kenny when it comes to the short game but when you’re on a links course like this, it’s very much how you see it yourself.

“I’ve seen a lot of shots along the ground this week, and I’ve kind of gone back to where I grew up. It’s nice to be able to play shots like that.”

“This golf course asks you to hit all the shots. That’s what I love about links golf. There’s nothing one-dimensional about the golf out there. You’ve got to hold them up, hook them on the wind, putt it from long range, chip and run it. You’ve just got to do everything out there, and it’s a great test.”

McDowell had a freshness about him yesterday that was reminiscent of Pebble Beach, as if he’d come down from the clouds. “I’ve been working hard this week, working on the shots required to get the ball around this golf course. My focus is coming back to me, as well. It’s been difficult, you know, with players, spectators, people just really congratulating me on Pebble and still kind of living four weeks ago. It’s difficult to move on. I don’t really want to move on but I’ve also got to get refocused on the task at hand.”

He added: “I’m going into the weekend with no expectations at all. I’m really putting no pressure on myself. I’ve got myself into a great position. I’ll go out free swinging and just really try to control the ball in this weather.

“I love being in contention going into the weekend. It’s weird saying I’m in contention when I’m seven back (of Louis Oosthuizen), but there’s not too many guys in front of me. I love the way I’m playing, so I think I can have a good weekend from here.”

“Like I say, seven back, but that’s only one guy. We’ll see what happens. I’m excited to get a little bit of focus back today and hit some good shots and get the old blood pumping again. It feels good.”

For sure, McDowell doesn’t have to delve too deeply into the old memory bank to know what it takes to win a major. His win, after all, is the freshest of them all.