Ryder Cup spot is McDowell's priority

GRAEME McDOWELL, who returns to tournament play in this week’s Abu Dhabi Championship after a winter spent mainly in Florida, has divulged a list of his season’s priorities that includes a return to winning – he hasn’t won on tour since the Scottish Open in 2008 – and retaining his place on Europe’s team for the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in October.

The 30-year-old Ulsterman – who took full advantage of his late-call up as replacement for Tiger Woods in the pre-Christmas Chevron World Challenge, where his second-place finish saw him jump into the world’s top 50 to secure an invite to the US Masters at Augusta in April – is part of an exceptionally strong Irish contingent in the Gulf, which also sees world number 10 Rory McIlroy resume tournament play.

McDowell and McIlroy – who each have plans for early-season schedules in the United States once they complete the Gulf Swing that also takes in the Qatar Masters and the Dubai Desert Classic (where McIlroy is defending the title) – are joined in Abu Dhabi by Irish Open champion Shane Lowry, Joburg Open runner-up Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Michael Hoey and Gareth Maybin.

The event will also mark the return to competitive action of last season’s Order of Merit winner Lee Westwood, and the 126-strong field also includes Henrik Stenson, defending champion Paul Casey and Geoff Ogilvy from the world’s top-10.

Clarke has moved back into the world’s top-100, to 95th, after his runner-up finish to South African Charl Schwartzel in Johannesburg. Schwartzel, incidentally, has moved to a career-high 35th in the world but has decided to skip Abu Dhabi after his back-to-back wins in the Africa Open and Joburg Open.

For McDowell, 40th in the official world rankings, this season is one he sees as holding huge possibilities as he seeks to move on from a strong finish to the 2009 season where he finished second in his closing two tournaments, in the World Cup (with McIlroy) and the World Challenge.

“Getting on Monty’s Ryder Cup team this year is my number one priority. I enjoyed every second of the Ryder Cup at Valhalla and would dearly love to taste some more of it . . . to be part of the team in October would be sweet,” said McDowell.

The northerner has pencilled in an early-season schedule that will see him compete in the three tournaments in the Gulf before moving to the States where his itinerary includes the Accenture Matchplay, the WGC-CA Championship in Doral, the Bay Hill Invitational and the US Masters, before moving on to play in the Ballantines championship in South Korea, a tournament he won in 2008. After that, McDowell will devote much of the summer to campaigning in Europe in his attempt to make Montgomerie’s team.

While making that European team is his primary aim for the season, McDowell is fully aware of the need to claim more titles to add to his career total of four wins on the PGA European Tour. “Winning is what this game is all about, each of us play to win . . . (and) the majors, as ever, are (also) high in my list of priorities.”

Clarke’s tied-second finish in the Joburg Open moved him up 20 places, from 115th, in the latest world rankings and the Tyroneman has moved on from South Africa for the Gulf Swing as he pursues a strong early-season drive towards breaking into the world’s top-64 ahead of the cut-off point for the Accenture Matchplay.

World number six Pádraig Harrington, who also plans to have a schedule that is loaded towards the PGA Tour in the States for the opening few months of the year, isn’t scheduled to return to tournament play until the Los Angeles Open in over two week’s time. Before that, Harrington is due to hold a QA with those attending the Titleist Performance Institute seminar at City West in Co Dublin on Sunday next.

Harrington is due to make just two competitive appearances in Ireland this year, at the JP McManus pro-am in July and at the 3 Irish Open in Killarney over the August bank holiday weekend.

In their efforts to ensure large crowds at the Irish Open, the sponsors have announced the launch of a “Spring special”, with family season tickets (two adults and two children) available for €50, representing a 66 per cent saving.