EUROPEAN TOUR:NO PRIZES for guessing what Graeme McDowell's mind will flash back to just before he starts the Qatar Masters tomorrow.
Hunter Mahan is one of his two playing partners and he, of course, was the American who ended the last Ryder Cup in tears after losing to McDowell in the game that decided the whole contest.
While the Ulsterman has made the short trip from Abu Dhabi for the tournament, Mahan has flown from California – and will be back there next week playing again.
“I feel as good as to be expected,” Mahan said about the 11-hour time change. “It’s something I wanted to do. I was just looking for the right opportunity and this came about.
“I do feel like golf is global now, especially with the European Tour having the top four players in the world.”
Mahan does concede that all his globe-trotting might affect his golf.
“It may – I don’t know – but I’d rather experience it than wonder about it.”
As for partnering McDowell, it is not the first time since Celtic Manor. “We got it out of the way real quick!” he said.
“I’ve known Graeme since college, basically. I don’t really have any ill-feelings toward the guy or anything like that.
“It won’t really add any spice. Hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to rekindle that later this year.”
There is no Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, or Luke Donald this week – and no Abu Dhabi winner Robert Rock either – but Lee Westwood has a chance to grab the world number two spot back off McIlroy and fourth-ranked Martin Kaymer can make up for last week’s missed cut.
Sergio Garcia, Jason Day and KJ Choi are the other world top-20 men in the field, while Mahan is joined by four fellow Americans who are all major winners – Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton, Shaun Micheel and John Daly, currently 543rd on the rankings.
McDowell is out to improve on his third-place finish on Sunday.
That looked highly unlikely with seven holes to play, but he aced the 12th, chipped in on the next and finished with two more birdies.
The last of them came when his thinned bunker shot hit the grandstand over the green and rebounded to within six feet of the flag.
“Sometimes the golf gods giveth and sometimes they taketh away,” he said.
Westwood hopes he is over the neck problem that had him struggling to survive the cut in the first leg of the European Tour’s Middle East swing.
He came through to finish joint 17th and said today: “I’m a notoriously slow starter. It always takes me a bit to get going.
“The first couple of days I think we’re expecting gusts up to 40mph. If it does there are some brutes out there.”
QATAR MASTERS
Course: Dubai Golf Club
Prize money: €1.907m (€306,020 to the winner)
Length: 7,388 yards. Par: 72.
Field: 132
The layout: Exposed, desert layout not so easy with strong breeze scudding across it, which is often the case,. The more cautious player is often rewarded. Paul Lawrie, Joakim Haeggman and Thomas Bjorn have won here in testing conditions.
Defending champion: Bjorn won by four shots from Alvaro Quiros.
Type of player suited to challenge: Straight, accurate hitter, ideally with low ball-flight can compete against the big-hitters
Key attribute: Accuracy.
Weather forecast: Clear but windy for the duration.
On TV: Sky 1, 3, 4
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