McDowell on road to recovery

No one can doubt Graeme McDowell's work ethic, even if his choc-a-bloc schedule has in some ways been forced upon him by circumstance as much as any desire to live out of a suitcase.

By securing a season's best tied-15th finish in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which was won spectacularly by American journeyman Chris Couch, McDowell was playing for a third-straight week in a sequence that is scheduled to stretch to 10-straight on either side of the Atlantic.

McDowell's itinerary was thrown to the wind after a poor early-season campaign that saw him miss the cut in his first six strokeplay tournaments on the US Tour, and which saw him add the Houston Open and New Orleans to his programme.

The past two weeks have been a tonic, resuscitating his year, and he will stay stateside this week for the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Vijay Singh is the defending champion.

McDowell, whose pay cheques of the past two weeks have lifted him up to 156th in the US money list, with $129,260, plans to play Wachovia before returning to Europe for the Quinn Direct British Masters, the Nissan Irish Open and the BMW Championship, and then return to America for the Memorial, the Barclays Classic and, hopefully, the US Open at Winged Foot.

That will make it 10 weeks on the road playing tournament golf, which is a measure of the 26-year-old Northerner's intent.

McDowell is not exempt for the US Open, and needs to get back into the world's top-50 by May 30th (he is 86th in the world rankings), or attend one of the sectional qualifying events which take place on June 5th, after the Memorial and prior to the Barclays.

Padraig Harrington, who finished tied-11th in New Orleans and has moved to 50th on the US money list with $582,035, is exempt for the US Open through his position on the 2005 US order of merit, while Paul McGinley, who has decided not to play in this week's Italian Open and who will resume tournament play at next week's British Masters at the Belfry, is exempted through his position on last year's European Tour money list.

While McDowell might reflect on New Orleans, where he led after the first round, the first time he has held a lead on the US Tour, as a tournament of what might have been, it was a dream come true for Couch, who holed out with a par-saving chip from almost 20 yards on the final hole for a one-shot win over Fred Funk and Charles Howell.

The American's first US Tour win moved him from 368th in the world to 103rd, and showed the fickleness of golf, as three years ago he was forced to borrow money from fellow-professional Brendan Pappas so he could simply keep going as a professional.

That loan was exacted in 2003, at a time when Couch had missed four successive cuts on the Nationwide Tour, the secondary circuit in the US.

"I think I would have gone out and gotten a job (if the loan didn't come through)," recalled Couch, who had made the cut at New Orleans on the mark.

But Couch didn't give up, and this teenage prodigy - who had played the Honda Classic on the US Tour as a 15-year-old - persevered for one reason. "I always thought I could win out here," he said.

The win arrived in spectacular fashion on the 18th hole of the final round, with his chip-in par giving him a 65, for a total of 19-under 269. He did it the hard way, needing a 12-foot putt on the 17th to save bogey after blading his second from a greenside bunker. Then, after airmailing his approach to the 18th and barely escaping a bunker, he gathered himself and chipped in for the victory.

"I remember thinking to myself this will always be remembered if I chip this in," said Crouch, who celebrated his 33rd birthday yesterday.

It's been a long, tough road to his first tour win. "This means so much," said Couch, who got a taste for tournament play when qualifying for the Honda as an amateur which led to him giving up baseball to pursue golf. "It's something from a guy who came from nothing and now I have a million dollars."

But until Sunday, Couch had absolutely nothing to show for two-plus seasons on the full US Tour, having qualified twice through the Nationwide Tour and crashing and burning afterward.

But Couch, who has won more money than anyone on the secondary circuit, had a different philosophy about playing with the big boys on tour this season. "I wasn't going to take being on the tour for granted this time. It's a lot of hard work and there are so many good players out there. You have to be on top of your game every week just to compete. Everything has to be there."

On this occasion it was, coming from the cut line to claim a maiden tour title and with it a place in the US PGA and the WGC Invitational later this year.