Everyone is looking for an edge. A driver, a hybrid, a putter: any club researched, developed and tested to the nth degree. Or something else, legal of course. On the eve of the WGC-Cadillac Championship, Graeme McDowell played a full-on practice round using the latest technology from "Game Golf," a revolutionary statistics tracking device.
On Thursday, he used those stats to good effect for 17 holes of opening round that reaffirmed his liking for this tough lay-out. Until he got to the par-three ninth, his finishing hole, and one that, in spite of measuring an innocent 200 yards, has water down the right to make avoiding it a primary consideration. And that is what McDowell managed to do, only overcooking his tee shot that a different kind of hazard – greenside bunkers – came into play.
The end result was that McDowell signed for a double-bogey five on his closing hole that negated much of his earlier good work and sufficient to rather spoil his dinner plans: in shooting an opening round 73, one over par, the Ulsterman’s round had gotten away late on.
Down but far from out, McDowell – after signing his card and collecting his thoughts – headed to the range to work on some things.
‘Lot of positives’
“It’s a pity what happened there at the last but overall there was a lot of positives out there. I knew there was an eight under par for the taking out there today because it was scoreable and with the pins not too difficult to get at.
“So, the scoring was much better than I expected and what pleased me most about my game was my putting.
“I hit some decent shots here and there while I controlled the ball well, at times but then I didn’t control it well, at times. So I’m heading to the range and try and straighten-up my ball flight,” said McDowell, who at least has the consolation of knowing that there is no cut in this limited field and that there is a chance over the next three rounds to make amends.
In warm and windy conditions, it had all started reasonably well for McDowell with a birdie – from a greenside bunker, splashing out to eight feet - on the 10th, his first. A drive into the left rough on the 14th, though, led to a bogey only to bounce back impressively with birdies from 20 feet on the 15th and from six feet on the 16th. He suffered another bogey on the 17th, pulling his approach left into a greenside bunker.
Homeward run
On his homeward run, McDowell started with a bogey on the par five first but found rough off the tee on the third and then rolled off five straight pars until his poor finish.
McDowell's finish was in stark contrast to that of Frenchman Alexander Levy, who grabbed a rare birdie on the 18th – a Par 4 of 476 yards with water menacing down the left - to open with a 68.
In his maiden appearance at Doral, Levy played like someone who knew the course like the back of his hand with an opening 68 that featured an eagle – on the eighth – along with four birdies and two bogeys.
“After two practice days, I was ready to play. It’s a big test for the start of the season. I take confidence from playing so well on this type of golf course, it will be good for the rest of the season. I had a plan going out and I did very good on this plan, hit good shots to the right place and my putting was good. That was the key.”
