Things have only gotten better for McDowell

THE WORDS of pop band D:Ream came to Graeme McDowell’s mind just over a week ago as he made the long-haul trip from Spain across time zones to China.

After a nightmarish weekend in his defence of the Andalucia Masters in Valderrama, the Ulsterman was reminded of the song lyrics that “things can only get better, a great song”, as he put it – and, a week on, after his third-place finish behind Martin Kaymer in the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, McDowell has moved on to this week’s Barclays Singapore Open with renewed vigour.

“It’s a horrible game sometimes and you have to stick with it and believe in yourself,” said McDowell of his immediate bounce back from back-to-back 80s in Spain to contending in China, adding his travails in Valderrama were an “embarrassment” and a “blip on the radar.”

McDowell – who has a busy late-season schedule ahead of him, continuing with this week’s tournament in Singapore, and including teaming-up with new world number two Rory McIlroy for Ireland in the World Cup at the tail-end of this month – said: “I’ve got a lot of great golf ahead of me and I’m just very happy with my general play . . . the third-place finish gives me a bit of mojo, hopefully (going into Singapore).”

Indeed, there is a particularly strong Irish contingent on duty in Singapore where Pádraig Harrington – who failed to qualify for last week’s megabucks, limited-field event in Shanghai – resumes his late-season quest to qualify for next month’s Race to Dubai finale.

Michael Hoey, Shane Lowry, Paul Cutler, Paul McGinley, Niall Turner, Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin and Damien McGrane are all in action in the event, co-sanctioned by the European and Asian tours.

Although all of this season’s Majors and World Golf Championships have come and gone, McDowell emphasised the financial importance of this time of the year when the tour finishes up in Asia, South Africa and the Middle East.

“We play for probably a close to a third of our season from a monetary point of view in this seven weeks and you can certainly take a very average season and turn it into a good one. So, that’s what I’m trying to do,” said last year’s US Open champion.

He added: “I’m now inside the top-15 bonus pool and hopefully I can improve on that again in Singapore this week. It’s an event I like playing: I’ve had two top-five finishes, so fingers crossed, I can bring my ball-striking and putting and be in the mix come Sunday afternoon.”

Whilst McDowell – who has moved to 13th on the money list and into bonus money territory in the Race to Dubai – believes his third-place finish in Shanghai will provide what he calls “a spark” for the weeks ahead before the tour’s conclusion in the desert next month, Harrington is still trying to secure his place there and will look for some good memories from previous endeavours in Asia.

The Dubliner is currently in 74th place in the money list (with the top-60 qualifying for the moneyfest in Dubai) and follows up this week’s appearance in Singapore with the defence of his Johor Open title in Malaysia next week.

Harrington had a top-10 finish in the Shanghai Masters a fortnight ago – an event not sanctioned by any of the tours – and reappears this week hoping to improve on his putting, especially the 10-20 feet range.

Harrington estimated he successfully made only four from 25 putts in that particular range in Shanghai as he incorporated a new routine into his game.

World number two McIlroy – who has dropped to third behind Kaymer in the pursuit of Luke Donald at the top of the European money list – has a two-week break, holidaying in the Maldives with girlfriend and tennis number one Caroline Wozniacki, before resuming tournament play at the World Cup and then the Hong Kong Open ahead of Dubai.

“I’ve been on the road for the last six weeks, so two weeks off will be nice,” said McIlroy, who won’t be reunited with his clubs again until he arrives in China for the World Cup having entrusted their safe-keeping to his caddie JP Fitzgerald.