McDowell's Ryder Cup dream burns bright after opening 64 in Saudi Arabia
Phil Mickelson watches Graeme McDowell in the first round of the Saudi Invitational
Graeme McDowell will be at Whistling Straits with Pádraig Harrington in September but whether he will be there as a vice-captain or a player remains to be seen.
The four-time Ryder Cup veteran is cautious about talk of a fifth cap. Still, after firing a six-under 64 to grab a share of the lead in the Saudi International, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that he will give qualification for one of those nine automatic spots a good run.
With his putter humming and his course management at its best alongside his faithful caddie Ken Comboy, he hit every fairway and missed only three greens in blustery afternoon conditions.
Not only that, he recovered from a double-bogey at the 11th by making four birdies in his last seven holes to share the lead with Malaysia's Gavin Green and make sure he took advantage of a hot start that brought four birdies in a row from the second.
It was a trademark performance from the 40-year old Antrim man, who has grown in confidence since teaming up with coach Kevin Kirk, a disciple of Pete Cowen, last year.
While he missed the cut in Dubai last week, dropping five shots in his last five holes on Friday— "I finished in an ambulance"— the 2010 US Open champion has been showing form of late by following four top-25s in a row with a tie for fourth in the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Still, he's loathe to talk up his chances of a fifth appearance in an event he dearly loves.
"We'll see what happens," said the world No 104, who would return to the world's top-50 with a win this week and open the doors to the Majors, the World Golf Championships and more Ryder Cup possibilities.
"There's no point declaring I'm going to be in the Ryder Cup and do this or that. I'm not. I'm just going to take each week as it comes."
After making four birdies in a row from the second, he was thrilled to rebound from that double-bogey at the par 11th, where knifed a bunker shot over the green, with birdies at the 12th, 16th, 17th and 18th
"I got off to a fast start, which was huge before the wind got up," he said afterwards. "It was inevitable out here in the Middle East, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Saudi is very similar in that you get flat-calm mornings, but you know it's going to blow in the afternoon.
"It was nice to get out of there with six-under-par because I felt like I played great today. It would have been a horrible round to let get away, but to finish birdie, birdie, birdie was nice, just feeding off Phil with seven birdies on the back nine. It was Phil the Thrill out there. It was fun to watch him and fun to play with him.”
While his only real mistake came at the 11th, where he lost his tee shot right and then found a poor lie in a greenside bunker and ended up making five, he birdied the 12th and played the last six holes superbly.
"It is always important - bounceback-ability - but 11 was disappointing. The tee shot was probably my weakest shot of the day, but I had big rock under my ball and didn't have a very good lie and knifed it across the green.
"I hit a fantastic third shot and an okay putt and missed it. It was disappointing. But to respond the way I did and birdie the next and play as solidly as I did the next four or five holes was very pleasing.
"I'm looking forward to getting back out in the morning in flatter wind conditions and I'm looking to make some birdies."
The decision to move to Kirk for coaching has worked out well for McDowell, who appears to have regained a little of his old strut having fallen outside the top 260 in the world less than a year ago.
"Making practice more effective."
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 30, 2020
Fast start from a motivated G Mac 💪@Graeme_McDowell #SaudiIntlGolf pic.twitter.com/WHeb6mOWvj
"He's helped me massively, said McDowell, who won the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship last March before gaining new energy after starting work with Kirk in late summer.
"He's studied under Pete Cowen quite a lot, so he speaks the same language I've been used to hearing for the last 10-15 years. He's really just brought a lot of focus in my practice, which has been key — making practice more effective — simple stuff.
“I've been out here doing this a long time, but it's amazing, you just lose track of the easy stuff. He has just got me much more motivated and much more focussed on my practice, and I am really enjoying working with him."
McDowell will host back-to-back editions of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open over the next two seasons with Mount Juliet from May 28-31 and knows others will attract all the attention.
"It's great," he said. Rory has done a phenomenal job, Dubai Duty Free, getting them on board. What Paul McGinley did in Lahinch last year. I've got The Open champ, I've got the Ryder Cup captain and Rory McIlroy is No 2 in the world right now, so I think it's going to be an easy hosting job."
If it was a good day for McDowell, it was a trying one for Ardglass rookie Cormac Sharvin, who had 35 putts and shot a five-over 75 in his first start for two months.
Shane Lowry
As for The Open champion, Shane Lowry was frequently exasperated, though he still walked off smiling despite a mental error on the 18th.
He finished with a frustrating bogey six for one-under 69 and in hindsight may wish he'd been less adventurous.
His 256-yard approach to the closing par-five cleared the water with little to spare but kicked a yard left as it scampered onto the green and rolled off before stopping on top of the stone wall surrounding the greenside lake.
While it was sitting in a depression in the stone, he chose the glory shot over the penalty drop but didn't catch it as he'd envisioned, advanced the ball just a few feet up the bank and watched it trickle, sickeningly, back into the water.
World No 1 Brooks Koepka is 48th after a level-par 70 and knows he must finish in the top-four to retain his No 1 crown should Jon Rahm win the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
The Spaniard got off to a promising start in that quest at TPC Scottsdale, however, opening with a four-under 67 to share 13th place, six shots behind Wyndham Clark.
Clark carded a 10-under par 61 to lead by two shots from Billy Horschel and by three from JB Holmes.
Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, a Ryder Cup teammate of McDowell’s and a fellow Major Champion, is part of a five-way share of third place on five under par, alongside compatriot Sebastian Soderberg, Spain’s Adri Arnaus, France’s Victor Perez and Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela.
Five-time Major winner Mickelson bounced back from a double bogey on the second hole, posting nine birdies and three bogeys in a characteristically entertaining round of 66 whilst playing alongside pacesetter McDowell.
The American is two shots back in a share of eighth position on four under par, while his compatriot Dustin Johnson, the defending champion, is a further shot back after opening with a three-under par 67.
Gavin Green
“I played solid — only a few mistakes here and there, which is pretty normal. A couple of pretty big par saves, and a couple of mistakes, a couple of three-putts, which was tough to take in because I was playing well and I was playing solid. Just a couple slipped off. You know, it's the nature of the game. You just have to live with it and move on, and that's what we did. We closed off strong, birdied 16, 17. Had a look at 18. Had a nasty little lip out but it is what it is. I'll take it.
Henrik Stenson
“I contributed most of it to the putting today. It was still a struggle off the tee at times and the rough is pretty thick. I had to scramble well on a couple of holes, but the approach shots that were close I converted into birdies and kept it together nicely, so very pleased with that.”
Nine birdies. Five pars.
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 30, 2020
Watch extended highlights of Phil's roller coaster opening round on our YouTube channel.
Phil Mickelson
“It was a great back nine. Part of the challenge for me is that I feel like I've been playing well but mentally, I haven't been as sharp. I haven't been visualising, and I haven't been seeing the shot clear. It was certainly evident early in the round where I made a couple of shots that weren't that hard that I made difficult.
“But the back nine, things really started to come together. Meaning I hit a lot of good shots. I started making the putts and made a lot of birdies, and it was just a good back nine that gave me a good chance heading into tomorrow. I feel like my game is a lot sharper than I've been scoring, so it was nice having that back nine.
“Going into tomorrow's round with hopefully less wind in the morning, I can get off to a good, aggressive start and see if I can continue making birdies. I feel like I can.”
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Royal Greens G&CC, King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia (Par 70)
64 G McDowell (Nir), G Green (Mas),
65 S Soderberg (Swe), J Vegas (Ven), V Perez (Fra), H Stenson (Swe), A Arnaus (Esp),
66 R Fisher (Eng), P Mickelson (USA), R Fox (Nzl), A Rai (Eng), T Lewis (Eng), A Sullivan (Eng),
67 D Johnson (USA), M Kinhult (Swe), L Herbert (Aus), J Luiten (Ned), S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp), S Kjeldsen (Den), F Laporta (Ita),
68 R Paratore (Ita), D Howell (Eng), J Janewattananond (Tha), A Meronk (Pol), J Harding (RSA), A Björk (Swe), S Hend (Aus), M Pavon (Fra), S Crocker (USA), F Zanotti (Par), C Bezuidenhout (RSA), S Sharma (Ind),
69 S Garcia (Esp), J Winther (Den), R Cabrera Bello (Esp), S Lowry (Irl), P Larrazábal (Esp), A Ancer (Mex), C Syme (Sco), M Schwab (Aut), R Bland (Eng), N Colsaerts (Bel), A Otaegui (Esp), J Morrison (Eng), A Levy (Fra), V Dubuisson (Fra), R McEvoy (Eng),
70 M Wallace (Eng), S Horsfield (Eng), J Singh Brar (Eng), H Li (Chn), S Gallacher (Sco), L Westwood (Eng), B Koepka (USA), M Antcliff (Aus), G Migliozzi (Ita), R Ramsay (Sco), S Heisele (Ger), R Jacquelin (Fra), M Kieffer (Ger), R Højgaard (Den), C Paisley (Eng), T Pieters (Bel),
71 A Wu (Chn), M Korhonen (Fin), J Walters (RSA), R Rock (Eng), E Van Rooyen (RSA), R Langasque (Fra), D Burmester (RSA), J Donaldson (Wal), B Hebert (Fra), C Hill (Sco), J Smith (Eng), S Brown (Eng), M Southgate (Eng), D Van Driel (Ned), J Senior (Eng), E Molinari (Ita), A Pavan (Ita),
72 R Macintyre (Sco), A Bhatia (USA), I Poulter (Eng), Z Lombard (RSA), K Samooja (Fin), N Elvira (Esp), A Quiros (Esp), N Bertasio (Ita), H Porteous (RSA), A Rozner (Fra), E Els (RSA), P Waring (Eng), D Micheluzzi (Aus),
73 J Wang (Kor), M Jordan (Eng), T Pulkkanen (Fin), O Farr (Wal), S Jamieson (Sco), L Gagli (Ita), A Chesters (Eng), D Drysdale (Sco), O Fisher (Eng), M Kawamura (Jpn), T Aiken (RSA), J Campillo (Esp), P Reed (USA), M Kaymer (Ger), T Detry (Bel), T Bjørn (Den), G Forrest (Sco),
74 R Santos (Por), B Poke (Den), D Horsey (Eng), J Hansen (Den), M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), S Crampton (USA), M Lee (Aus), G Bhullar (Ind),
75 O Wilson (Eng), A Marjan (Mar), J Lagergren (Swe), O Almulla (Ksa), J Guerrier (Fra), B Wiesberger (Aut), D Law (Sco), C Sharvin (Nir),
76 W Ormsby (Aus),
78 B Stone (RSA),
79 C Shinkwin (Eng), J Elson (Eng),
82 F Salhab (am) (Ksa), S Al Sharif (am) (Ksa),
Bad Time register
Round One: no bad times
