McDowell checks out early at the Ritz

Graeme McDowell made another early exit from the WGC-Accenture Match Play on Wednesday. Picture: Fran Caffrey www.golffile.ieGraeme McDowell hopes the WGC-Accenture Match Play leaves Dove Mountain next term after crashing out to YE Yang for the second year running.

The Portrush ace lost 2 and 1 to the 2009 US PGA champion exactly 12 months after going out to the Korean in the third round at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.

Disappointed to exit in round one for the fourth time in five years, McDowell said: “I hear they are leaving this golf course next year and perhaps going somewhere else so I’ll not be sad to see the back of this place.

“I love this resort and they take care of us but this golf course has not been good to me. It doesn’t inspire me to make a ton of birdies even though I played beautiful today.

“To win just three matches here in four years is disappointing because I have played better than that every year. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

“I made six birdies today and played decent golf but ran into a man who played extremely well.

“I felt like I had to follow him in all day long and I did most to the way but he didn’t put a foot wrong.

“That’s the beauty of this tournament - or maybe the beast - you run into the wrong guy on the wrong day and you’ve got your work cut out and I had my work cut out today and didn’t take care of business.

“I am disappointed because I am going to go and pack my bags here at five past 11 on a Wednesday morning.”

McDowell knew he was in for a tough battle when he lost the first to a par and then birdied the second, third and fourth but was still only all square in the first match out on the course.

The Ulsterman won the fifth in par to go one up but lost the short sixth to a Yang birdie and soon found himself trailing again.

The Korean, 40, birdied the seventh from 12 feet and looked on as McDowell missed from just seven there to go one down.

Then at the ninth McDowell racked up a double bogey six after tugging his approach into thick rough left of the green and went two down.

McDowell groaned: “He beat me last year and he seems to have my number a little bit. I have a tendency to bring out the best in guys around this track for some reason.

“You can never expect guys to play badly because the second you do that they will destroy you.

“I didn’t do that today but the big turning point was a missed putt from inside him on seven. He made from 15 feet I missed from eight feet.

“Then I hit it on the wrong place on nine and lose that. So from being all flat to two down and I was in a hole and he didn’t give me anything.”

The world No 13 won back a hole with a par at the short 12th but the Korean was too clinical over the closing stretch.

Birdies at the 13th and 15th were only good enough for halves and when McDowell lipped out for a win from 10 feet at the 16th, he was in trouble.

Yang duly applied the coup de grace at the 17th with a 185-yard approach to three feet setting up a second round clash with Hunter Mahan or Zach Johnson.

McDowell will resume his season in Florida over the next two weeks at the Honda Classic and the WGC-Cadillac Championship feeling positive about his game.

He said: This is the start of a great run of golf and I am very happy with where my game is at and made some nice clutch putts out there today. So everything is ticking over.

“This just gives you nothing this tournament if you run into the wrong guy.

“We knew what this guy was all about and he didn’t exactly what we expected him to do. He was going to be hard to beat and I just didn’t do it.”