Bethpage is wet, long and tough, according to Graeme McDowell, who suggests a long hitter could bomb his way to victory. PHILIP REIDreports

GOING LOW doesn’t scare Graeme McDowell. Some players get a little wobbly at the knees at the prospect, but the 29-year-old Ulsterman is not one of them. Already this season, he has scribbled his signature to a 61 – at the Irish Open – and last week to a morale-boosting, final-round 63 at the St Jude Classic in Memphis – but he doesn’t envisage such low scores at Bethpage.

“Yeah, 63 could happen here . . . if you left out the last four or five holes,” he joked.

This is no laughing matter, however. McDowell, who is competing in his fourth US Open, with a best finish of tied-30th at Oakmont two years ago, has found some light at the end of the tunnel after a rather frustrating, injury-marred season. But he knows this course will provide the most in-depth examination of just where his game stands.

Although he had that 63 in Memphis on Sunday for a season’s best finish of tied-seventh, the challenge faced here over the Black Course will be different. “This is a different kettle of fish entirely,” he conceded.

McDowell – who finalised his preparations yesterday by playing a full round, the front nine on his own and the back nine in company with Rory McIlroy – has put a rescue club with extra loft into his bag in place of a three-iron as he gathers himself for an assault on the course he describes as being “a shock to the system”.

“The course is wet. It’s long, and it’s tough. Not tough in the same way as Pinehurst or Oakmont or Augusta. It’s not firm with balls going here, there and everywhere. It’s just a slog. You lose count of how many hybrids and long irons you have to hit to par fours. There are only two par fives on the card, but it feels like there are seven or eight.”

In his practice rounds, McDowell did explore the different options off the tee available to the USGA for the championship, and he confessed, “I’m judging the course off the back of every tee box. I’m hoping that’s not where the USGA are going to put them”.

The fear that McDowell has, though, is that someone can bomb their way to the title. As he explained, “I’m not the shortest hitter in this field by any stretch of the imagination. I’m probably in the middle of the pack and I know I’ve got the tools to compete if I can get the ball in play. I’m accurate enough with my iron play and my short game, and putting will keep me competitive.

“But if a long hitter gets hot with his driver, like Cabrera did at Oakmont, he’s going to be hard to talk to because this is a golf course where length is a big key.”

McDowell spent a couple of hours on the range after his practice round yesterday tidying up some components in his play, aware of the tough challenge ahead. Of his game, he said: “I’ve been doing all the right things and working hard on my game all year and getting close, closer all the time, but numbers are everything. When you’re playing well, there’s a thin line between shooting 65 and 72. It’s those five-, six-, seven-, eight-footers that keep a round alive. You’re converting birdies, or saving pars . . . and away you go.”

He’ll hope to bring some of that Mo-Jo from Memphis in with him.

“You must regard this as a four-round marathon. It’s not a sprint. If you bogey the first couple of holes, it’s no big deal, because you have so far to go. You’re only four or five pars away from being back in position again.”