IN THE locker-room inside the Olympic clubhouse, with its ornately polished hardwood cabinets, Graeme McDowell – can of beer in hand and a TV crew from the Golf Channel waiting patiently down the back for a piece of the action – has begun to analyse how close he came to reclaiming the US Open trophy and already commenced the process of ensuring that future Majors, on parkland and links, will form part of his hit-list rather than wish-list.
The mind is working with a calculated ruthlessness, the Scottish Open being sacrificed so that he can spend more time preparing at Lytham for next month’s British Open. “I fancy a run at that Claret Jug, I do,” said McDowell, who finished in a share of second place – alongside Michael Thompson – just an agonising stroke behind new US Open champion Webb Simpson.
McDowell flew home to Florida yesterday and, later this week, will journey on to his real home, in Portrush, for next week’s Irish Open which is a sell-out. His performance at the Olympic enabled him to join an elite club who have finished runner-up in the Major there, joining no less figures than Ben Hogan, Arnie Palmer, Tom Watson and Payne Stewart who in past US Opens experienced the very emotions, of disappointment and frustration, that McDowell felt.
One extra holed putt! That’s all that McDowell needed in the final round to earn a play-off. It all came down to a downhill 24-footer on the 18th green, but it was not to be as the Ulsterman – and Jim Furyk, who made up the final pairing – was denied. “To come back (after early bogeys) and birdie 17 and have a sniff on the last, even though I missed the putt, that was massive.”
The putt stayed stubbornly left of the hole, yet the runner-up finish (worth €559,688) moved him to 11th in the world rankings and, more pertinently, virtually assured him of his place on Europe’s Ryder Cup team for the match against the United States in Chicago in September.
More imminent, however, are the upcoming Irish Open – on his home course at Royal Portrush – and the British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes.
McDowell’s performance, in coming so close to adding another Major to the title he won at Pebble Beach in 2010, playing with what he termed his “B-plus Game,” was enormously encouraging.
“There are areas of my game that I know are weak and I need to work on,” acknowledged McDowell, citing his bunker play as an example. “I will take a huge amount of belief in myself that I can compete on the biggest stage and win. I had the chance to win and to come up one short hitting it the way I was hitting it . . . I wasn’t on top of my game in any shape or form, I believe I can win more Major Championships. I will take a huge amount of positives away.”
McDowell added: “I am disappointed, yes, but part of me is also very proud I battled back from a disappointing start. My hurt is probably not as bad as Jim Furyk’s because he had it and couldn’t quite finish the job. It was never really in my grasp but I very nearly got there . . . (this) has reinforced to me that I can compete and win more Major championships. It’s been a frustrating five or six weeks for me but I knew in my heart that my game was better than my results were showing and it was great for me to come in, prepare, put it up there, try my best and compete.
“I don’t know what it is about these set-ups that I enjoy as much as I do, but they certainly appeal to me. The tougher the course, the better for me.”
Harrington’s tied-fourth finish in the US Open moved him up to 75th in the world rankings and also moved him up the Ryder Cup tables, although he still has much work to do if he is to move into an automatic spot on Jose Maria Olazabal’s team. Both McDowell and Harrington resume tournament action at the Irish Open.
For Webb Simpson, there is no rest: he plays in this week’s Travelers Championship on the US Tour, where he has US Masters champion Bubba Watson for company. Simpson, a 26-year-old from North Carolina, and competing in his second US Open, claimed a breakthrough Major title with back-to-back 68s over the weekend which left him on 281, one-over-par.
Although he had two wins on tour last year, Simpson’s form – missed cuts in The Players and The Memorial – hadn’t suggested him as a stand-out contender.
He was six shots behind Jim Furyk when playing the sixth hole, where he started a run that brought four birdies in five holes and transformed his quest for a maiden title.
“One of my thoughts on the back nine was, ‘I don’t know how Tiger has won 14 of these things, because the pressure . . . I couldn’t feel my legs most of the back nine,” he said.
Simpson made a up-and-down from greenside on the 18th hole for par to claim the title, with Furyk – who failed to make a single birdie all day in a closing 74 – snap-hooking his chances away off the 16th tee which led to a bogey on the Par 5 hole.
In becoming the ninth straight first-time winner of a Major, Simpson acknowledged he had fed off other successes. “If I see Keegan Bradley win a Major (the US PGA), I respect his game a ton, but I feel like, Keegan Bradley won one, I want to go win one. All these guys that won before me, I thought I played with these guys all my life. I want to win a tournament. They’re great players, but I want to do what they’re doing. Everybody is so competitive in this world that we just kind of feed off of each other.
Meanwhile, Lee Westwood has confirmed his plans to move to the US at the end of the year in a bid to maximise the remainder of his playing career.
The 39-year-old Englishman has won 40 professional titles but has yet to claim a major in 57 attempts, with his best finishes being the runners-up spots he claimed at The Masters and the British Open in 2010.
Westwood said: “I haven’t got that much time left at the top and I want to give myself the best chance of staying there as long as I can. I am moving to America at the end of this year because, with our weather, it is hard to practise when you want to practise in the UK. The rest of the family are really excited about the move and I can see us spending the next five to 10 years in America.”
