Tour news: Graeme McDowell keen to ‘get the reps in’

There is no "panic button," as Graeme McDowell puts it himself. Frustration, for sure. But no panic. Yet, as Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry - number one and three respectively in the European Tour order of merit - headed on to the HSBC Champions tournament in China, another elite megabucks event with no cut, McDowell was headed back across the Atlantic with his work on the European Tour finished for the year.

Nobody knows better than the man known as G-Mac that these haven’t been the best of times on tour. No win all year and, with it, a slippery slide down the world rankings to a current position of 82nd. With no ticket back to the European season’s finale in the desert in three weeks time, McDowell will instead use the Mayakoba Classic and the McGladrey Classic on the PGA Tour to find some spark to bring with him into next year, a Ryder Cup year as if he needed reminding.

“I am just looking forward to this year to be over, to be honest with you. Listen, it has been a rough year and it’s coming to an end. What do they say? Just try to get out of 2015 at this point. You never want time to go by but . . . .,” said McDowell, tailing off as if to let the silence tell its own story.

In seeing the trip to Mexico followed by Sea Island in South Carolina as the final two chances to redeem something from the year, McDowell also sees these two PGA Tour wraparound events as the start of a 2016 season.

“The driver and putter have really been the two keys this year, the two keys that haven’t been there if you like. They are the sort of things that have been letting me down .Practice. Just practice. I have been practicing hard over the last three or four months. I was a bit lost technically during the year but I know where I am at technically now. It is just a case of getting - what does Tiger say? ‘getting the reps in’.”

So, plenty more hard work in Florida over the winter. But, before that, those two events at the tailend of the year but towards the start of the PGA Tour’s wraparound season. Of his reasoning behind playing the two PGA events, McDowell said: “I am feeling reasonably energetic and I am ready to play golf. I want to continue to play. I don’t really fancy going out to Asia. The BMW (Masters), the golf course is okay. The Dubai course is terrible for me. So I don’t really fancy making that trip. Thankfully I had an alternative and I am going to look forward to getting off to a faster start hopefully in the FedEx. I am going to play a bit more than I normally would. I am going to play more golf next year. That’s kind of the plan.”

One of those key elements that McDowell is hoping to find a solution to is with his putting, and to that end he has been working with Cleveland on a new putter, what he calls “a work in progress.”

“The big thing with my putting this year is it has been under too much pressure because I haven’t played that well. By the time you get to the greens, you need it too badly. So you start getting in your own way on the greens. I know I am a good putter. I just need to relax and give myself the head space to roll the ball,” he admitted.

As McDowell returned stateside in his bid to reignite his game, McIlroy and Lowry - the only two Irishmen in the HSBC field - brought more positives than negatives with them to Shanghai. McIlroy, seeking back-to-back Order of Merit titles, claimed his putting was “a work in progress” but added: “I’m still playing two more events this year (HSBC and DP World Tour Championship) and I feel like my game is good enough to give myself two opportunities to win again.”

Lowry’s top-10 finish in Turkey moved him to third in the Race to Dubai standings, and he is committed to playing all three of the remaining “Final Series” tournaments - one more than McIlroy - which gives him a chance to play catch-up on the Ulsterman. “It is great to be in the top-20 in the world and challenging for the Race to Dubai, things have never been as good,” said Lowry.

Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington and Michael Hoey - who have each finished their season's work - plan to undergo medical procedures in the coming weeks. Harrington has been troubled by a knee ligament injury since August and will have surgery to remedy matters, while Hoey - who was unfortunate to suffer an ankle injury on a visit to a water park in Turkey last week - will have an operation to correct his sinuses.