GOLF HONDA CLASSIC:GRAEME McDOWELL rediscovered his midas touch with the blade to card an immaculate, course record-equalling six under par 64 and claim a top-10 finish in the Honda Classic.
South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini held off a strong challenge from Korea’s YE Yang to win the tournament by one shot on nine under par. McDowell claimed his fourth successive top-10 since last year’s win in the Chevron World Challenge, with a brilliant scrambling and putting display to finish tied sixth.
The 31-year old Ulsterman successfully scrambled 75 percent of the time over four rounds, taking just 24 putts on the final day to make a lucrative move up the leaderboard as Rory McIlroy closed with rounds of 77 and 75 to finish near the back of the field on 16 over.
One of the keys to McDowell’s successful week was his performance at the Bear Trap – the water-strewn par-3, par-4, par-3 run from the 15th to the 17th – which he negotiation in one under par for the week, some five strokes better than the field average.
Having parred every hole through that stretch until the 17th yesterday, McDowell saved the best until last when he holed a 35-foot bomb for a birdie two and then closed with another birdie at the downwind 18th, where he hit a towering three-hybrid to 25 feet from 237 yards and narrowly failed with the eagle putt.
“If I was to sum the week up I would probably call it a good short-game week,” McDowell said. “I hung in there really well on Thursday and Friday when I didn’t play my best tee to green.
“I’ve been really working hard on my short game and it kept me in there this week when my long game wasn’t at its best and I managed to hole a few putts today, which was nice.”
McDowell rediscovered his swing on the range on Friday evening, realising that he was standing too close to the ball. After a great 70 in round three, he went to the turn in 33 yesterday, getting up and down from sand at the par-five third before holing a 15-footer for birdie at the tough sixth.
On a day when the wind dropped and switched around more than 90 degrees, McDowell then holed a 45-footer for birdie at the 11th and an 11-footer at the 13th to get to four under par before finishing with that satisfying brace at the last two holes.
McDowell added: “Sometimes you can just go out and free swing it on Sunday and make a score . . . I was just in a mood where I wanted to go out and get some confidence in the bank for next week and not put any pressure on myself.”
McIlroy’s tournament effectively ended when he double bogeyed the three Bear Trap holes on Saturday and while he is not concerned about his game he confessed that he struggles to deal with high winds.
After a closing 75, McIlroy said: “I just find it difficult to score in high winds. I still think I can hit good shots but it is just the scoring element that I find quite tough. I spin it a lot, which probably doesn’t help. But we only play in high winds twice or three times a year so I don’t think it is any cause for concern.”
