GOLF:WIN OR lose, Graeme McDowell – with last year's US Open win as the high point of his career Curriculum Vitae and a wish list for more of the same in the big tournaments that really matter to players on tour – headed into the final round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass with a strut in his step and a belief that his season had definitely turned a corner.
Although a freakish double-bogey six at the 18th hole of his weather-delay third round took some of the gloss away from the work he had done yesterday morning on his return to the course, McDowell still held a one stroke lead over David Toms going into a final round which he viewed as another step on a journey towards rediscovering his stellar form of last season and ultimately moving towards the world number one spot.
Having gone into The Players somewhat out-of-sorts, McDowell – who worked hard on his swing with coach Pete Cowen in recent weeks – remarked: “I wasn’t putting pressure on myself this week. It was about coming out and seeing how the new swing thoughts went, and they went pretty well, so I’m really happy. I’ve got the old feelings back. I’m feeling calm under pressure. My putter’s feeling good, and I’m excited.”
Certainly, McDowell – scheduled to move on to this week’s Volvo World Matchplay in Spain – has become accustomed to competing at the business end of big tournaments. “I’ve learned how to stay calm under pressure. I think the more times you do it, the more you understand yourself, and the more you can then deal with it when it comes around,” he observed before heading out for the final round with a one shot lead that could have been far more comfortable but for a vicious bounce on the 18th hole of his third round.
The shot seemed perfect in the air but, hitting a bump to the right of the green, it ricocheted across the putting surface and didn’t stop until it found the lake.
It resulted in a double bogey six, with McDowell taking a philosophical view of his fate. “It was a tough break but it is just one of those things.
“This golf course is dangerous. If you get out of position, you pay the price . . . 18 leaves a bit of a bitter taste, but I’ll be ready (for the final round).”
He added: “This golf course is generally pretty fair, that ball just kind of had one of those sling-shot moments where it just got to the top and rode the slope and had maximum pace, which it needed to kind of get over that little collar. There is nothing you could do about it. So generally I think this golf course is very fair, and thats just one of those strange moments in golf.”
“This golf course asks you to hit all kinds of shots: Drivers, three-woods off tees, shape it right-to-left and left-to-right and chip and putt. I love this course because it asks all the questions of your game.”
McDowell headed into the final round with a one shot lead over an invigorated Toms, playing his best golf of the season.
And McDowell’s finishing roller-coaster from his third round 68 – where he hit a wedge tee-shot to two feet on the notorious 17th to set up a birdie before that double bogey finish – continued into the final round, where a monster birdie putt from 45 feet on the fifth was followed by back-to-back bogeys on the sixth (where he blocked his tee shot into trees) and seventh, when he pulled his drive into water, seemed to hand the initiative to David Toms, without a win in six years, with KJ Choi and Paul Goydos among those in the mix.
