McDowell remains in the thick of things

Golf:It was by no means perfect, but Graeme McDowell continued to move in the right direction in the second round of the Players Championship at Sawgrass. McDowell followed up his opening 67 with a 69 to reach halfway on eight under, only two behind the clubhouse leader David Toms.

The Antrim man was out in 34 and started for home with two more birdies, only to double bogey the 12th after hitting a tree and then duffing his pitch. His response was instant, though.

He was only a foot away from an ace at the short 13th and while there were more bogeys to come on the 14th and 17th he birdied the long 16th and struck a brilliant 154-yard approach to within four feet of the final flag for his seventh birdie of the day.

After missing three of his last four halfway cuts, and with his defence of the US Open coming up next month, McDowell is delighted to have rediscovered his form. McDowell rocketed up the world rankings last year from 50th to fifth, thanks in no small part to his victory at Pebble Beach, but has struggled this season, carding an eight-over-par 80 at Bay Hill, missing the cut at the Masters and lasting just two rounds in New Orleans.

"In New Orleans I hit rock bottom. I couldn't hit the ball any worse than I hit it there," McDowell admitted.. "You go through a spell like I've just gone through, where I couldn't piece anything together, and you have crazy thoughts like, 'will I ever win again?', 'will I ever be in contention again?', 'am I done?', 'am I finished?'

"It's just the craziness of this sport - you never really know what's round the corner. There's no doubt my technique has been off the mark the last four or five weeks. Sports psychologists say don't wait for the golf ball to make you happy, try to go out there and be happy. But the way my golf ball has been flying it's been pretty tough to be happy."

The 31-year-old spent last week in Orlando with his coach Pete Cowen working on his swing and making a key adjustment which he believes has brought instant results. McDowell felt his main problem during his recent run of poor form was an inability to self-correct swing mistakes while out on the course.

"Why did I fall out of the structure? Because things felt too easy and I think sometimes you forget the reasons why you're there - the things you worked on with your swing to get you to the point where it feels easy," he added. "I've been working very hard this year but I've been working on the wrong things. I've had zero structure in my practice. I didn't really know what I was trying to achieve to be honest with you. I've spent the last six weeks beating more golf balls than maybe I've ever hit, just searching, searching for something and I've really not been able to find it.

"I said to my caddie yesterday, I miss being in contention. I miss the pressure. Let's try and get ourselves in the mix this weekend. I realise now that my technique has been the biggest problem. I really have been swinging it badly. It feels good to go out there this week and make some swings, see the shots and execute them. It gives me confidence. This is why we love this game. It's why we hate it and why it keeps us coming back for more. But it feels good, really good this week."

Steve Stricker was alongside McDowell in second place after a 67, however, and overnight leader Nick Watney was on the same mark as he reached the turn. Hunter Mahan, Aaron Baddely and JB Holmes were on seven under while Luke Donald continued his good form as he moved to six under after 12 holes.

As for Phil Mickelson, it was a real tale of two halves for the world number four. After covering the back nine in 31 with three birdies and an eagle putt of nearly 40 feet at the 16th he came home in 40 — only two better than Tiger Woods managed before limping out of the tournament on day one.

All that left Mickelson back on two under after a second successive 71 and still a long way from the victory that would take him ahead of Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Donald to the top of the rankings for the first time in his career.

Padraig Harrington, well off the pace after a 73 yesterday, birdied his first hole of the day to move to level par, right on the projected cut mark. But a miserable run of bogey-bogey-double bogey from the 12th to the 14th, having started his round on the 10th, saw him drop down the standings and another dropped shot at the 16th left him facing an unscheduled weekend off.