Next weeks could be the making of McDowell

TOUR NEWS:FINALLY, IT would seem, Graeme McDowell's graph is ascending to the heights he has always aspired to: ninth on the European Tour money list, 10th on the combined Ryder Cup qualifying table and 59th on the official world golf rankings. The thing is - and the 28-year-old Ulsterman, more than anyone, knows it - the graph can go even higher, and the next month could yet prove to be the most important phase of his season in terms of achieving major goals.

"I'm putting in performances on a regular basis, and I'm excited (about the future)," remarked McDowell, who finished third - behind Ross Fisher - in the European Open on Sunday. It was McDowell's sixth top-10 finish of the season, the high point to date being his win in the Ballantines championship in Korea in March.

Yet, in its own way, this third-place finish could prove to be just as important in his quest for a place on Europe's Ryder Cup team at Valhalla in September.

McDowell has now moved back into a place on Nick Faldo's team and, if he is to make it, automatic qualification is the only route for him: there are too many experienced players - among them Pádraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Colin Montgomerie - currently on the outside looking in and more likely to be recipients of a "wild card" should the need arise.

But, remember, there are only two of those for Faldo to dispense! Arguably, the most impressive aspect of McDowell's third-place finish behind Fisher and runner-up Sergio Garcia was the way he regrouped after a horrendous start to his final round when he dropped four shots in four holes. He had the mental capacity to turn it around.

"I work very hard on the mental side of things, so as not to get disappointed on the golf course.

"You know, when you're four over par after four holes when you're trying to win a golf tournament it is very hard not to get disappointed, but I've got a great caddie (Ken Comboy) on the bag who doesn't really let me dwell on the moment . . . I've now got a lot of positives to reflect on and to put them into play for the next few weeks."

McDowell heads a strong Irish contingent to this week's €4 million Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond. Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Rory McIlroy and Gary Murphy are also playing, while Harrington has stuck to his guns and will prepare for next week's defence of the claret jug by playing in the Ladbrokes.com Irish PGA Championship at the European Club, which starts tomorrow.

For Clarke, McGinley, Lawrie, McIlroy and Murphy, the Scottish Open represents a last-ditch chance to gatecrash into next week's British Open at Royal Birkdale. One spot has been reserved for the top player finishing in the top-five in Scotland who is not already exempt for the major.

McDowell's itinerary in the next few weeks will see him playing for significant purses and, also, a huge number of world points: his schedule will see him take in the Scottish Open (where world number two Phil Mickelson heads the cast), the British Open, the Bridgestone Invitational and the US PGA. The only week he has off is that between the Open and the Bridgestone.

Of his move back into an automatic position on Europe's team, a goal he set at the start of the year but one he now believes will look after itself if he takes it one tournament at a time, McDowell said: "There is a lot more golf to be played. I've no idea what I need but four of the next five weeks have some of the biggest tournaments on the planet and I am playing well going into them. I've just go to stick in there and keep doing what I'm doing because I have got a great chance to make the team now."

While McDowell will prepare for Birkdale on the lakeside course of Loch Lomond, Harrington - who has dropped a place, to 13th, in the latest world rankings - is playing in a championship with less than two per cent of the money.

Yet, the Irish PGA at the European Club in Brittas Bay is one he holds dear to his heart (he has won four times) but, more importantly, it offers the opportunity, as it did a year ago, to get competitive play in on a links course in the run-up to the British Open.

"In terms of the Open, I'm happy with my form. I wasn't near as sharp as I can be (in the European Open) and that's a good pointer for the next two weeks. It's exactly as I'd expect it to be.

"I could see in my game at the London Club that some parts were very solid but that it needs another 72 holes of golf to sharpen up. It's nothing that the right attitude and right focus can't sort . . . there is nothing else missing," claimed Harrington.

Indeed, he wouldn't mind in the slightest if there was wet and windy weather in evidence at the Irish PGA.

"I could do with playing in some bad weather. What's missing is the short game and, when you play in the worse weather, you've got to use your head more. It keeps you sharp because you've got to think and you've got to apply yourself. That wouldn't do me any harm."