McDowell tied for fourth place

US AMATEUR GOLF: Ireland's Graeme McDowell shot a disappointing three-over-par 74 in Saturday's final round of the 2002 US NCAA Men's Golf Championship at the Ohio State University Scarlet Course to finish tied for fourth place overall.

The All-American and two-time Conference USA Player of The Year entered the final round with a one stroke lead in the individual standings, one stroke ahead of Oklahoma State's Hunter Mahan and three ahead of TCU's Adam Rubinson in the race for the individual honours.

However, the Rathmore player struggled in the final round shooting five bogies with only two birdies - one on each nine - to fall behind Rubinson and Mahan, as well as individual champion Troy Matteson of Georgia Tech.

Matteson began the day tied for sixth place, four shots off the lead, but came on strongly down the last 18, finishing his first nine one-under-par and shooting par or better on every hole on the back nine, with birdies on three of the final six holes to finish four-under-par for the day and eight under for the tournament, with a winning score of 276.

McDowell finished the tournament tied with Justin Smith of team champions Minnesota at five-under-par 279.

It was a bittersweet ending to a brilliant season for McDowell, who had six tournament wins, was ranked first in the Golfweek.com and Golfstat Cup rankings, and was a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award.

Minnesota won the team championship, finishing two-under-par at 1134, four strokes ahead of Georgia Tech (1138) while McDowell and his UAB team mates finished 27th at 1176.

McDowell's Irish team-mates David Jones, Alan Murray and Sean McTernan helped Toledo University to a tie for 14th place.

The Rockets shot an 11-over par 295 to finish 17-over for the tournament and tied with Colorado in the final standings.

David Jones (City of Derry) is tied for 46th place at 288, Alan Murray (Greystones) is in a tie for 97th place at 295 and junior Sean McTernan (Co Sligo) is in a tie for 111th place at 297.