More often than not, Graeme McDowell has walked from the 18th green here at Augusta National looking for more than the sanctuary of the colonial clubhouse. “Sometimes I have required a padded cell, because I have been frustrated,” said the Northern Irishman, who has only survived two cuts in seven previous appearances in the Masters.
“It doesn’t make great reading,” he admitted of a record that is at odds with the sort of consistency McDowell has demonstrated in his career.
And, yet, rather than allow any historical frustration to get the better of him, McDowell – who has recovered from a peroneal tendon strain that caused him to withdraw from the Texas Open a fortnight ago – is insistent that he loves the course. Only this time he intends to play it better; to his strengths, putting a greater emphasis on, well, his putting.
“I have learned to understand why the course frustrates you. It frustrates you because it makes you play with the handbrake on. You have just got to take the handbrake off sometimes . . . that’s a sports psychology-ism if you like, to take on shots if you fancy, and, if you don’t, to play safe. You’ve got to chip and putt your way [around],” said McDowell.
Pitching and putting
Ironically, it has been one of McDowell’s strengths, his putting, which has traditionally let him down here.
Why? “I had become obsessed with playing this golf course tee to green. I stand there to fix the Rubik’s cube for 10 and 13 and 15, all these holes. I wear myself out trying to work out how to play the golf course when the last three four years I have thrown shots around the green. It is a simple pitching and putting exercise for me. I know I can play the course tee to green, it is about playing to the right spots when you like it and to the right spots when you don’t like it.”
McDowell, who sustained the tendonitis injury when practising a new drill prior to Texas and then exacerbated it when going over on it when walking down a hill, is hoping to use his lowered expectations as a positive.
“Sometimes it can be dangerous to be playing really well in here because it gets you to take shots on. Sometimes a tiny bit off, and you have to play a bit safer and smarter – that can be a good recipe around here.”
Greater emphasis
If a tied-12th finish here in 2012 seemed like McDowell had finally found a way to play the course, two successive missed cuts in the Masters in 2013 and again last year have led to a degree of caution and the greater emphasis on pitching and putting. It is what happens around the greens that really matters.
“I just need to see the ball behaving itself and it is starting to do that. I have been working very hard the last few weeks . . . it has been a slow start from a scheduling point of view and from a results point of view, but we all know it is a long season.
“No panic buttons required. My expectation levels can’t be high, I have to balance my approach and if I am there for the weekend, let it happen.”
McDowell is coming in under the radar, which might not be a bad thing. Lower expectations, greater results.
“You learn something about it every year. Even today, I am picking up little nuances perhaps I hadn’t noticed before. It’s about putting those in the memory bank and trying to apply it to your knowledge and experience and hope that some year I can come here and really compete. This could be the year.”
