With the non-stop brouhaha about Tiger Woods skipping next week’s U.S. Open to tend to his increasingly cranky leg, his long-time caddie picking up the bag for Adam Scott next week, and hand-wringing about whether Phil Mickelson can finally get the always-the-Open-bridesmaid monkey off his back, golf fans could easily forget that Graeme McDowell is actually the defending Open champ.
You remember GMac — the guy from Northern Ireland who replaced a dinged-up Tiger at the 2009 Chevron World Challenge, came from behind to beat the big boys for the 2010 U.S. Open title, played a major role in dismantling the U.S. in last year’s Ryder Cup, and came full circle by defeating Woods back at the Chevron last December? Oh yeah, that Graeme McDowell.
McDowell took the lucky break (for him, if not exactly for the guy who plowed his Escalade into that pesky fire hydrant) and ran with it all the way to an outstanding 2010 season. For a lengthy stretch there, he was the hottest player on the planet.
Next week, however, McDowell will lug a recent spate of bad golf with him to his 7:55 a.m. Thursday tee time at Congressional Country Club, which he’ll share with 2010 British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen and top amateur Peter Uihlein from New Bedford, Mass. After signing for a ghastly 10-over 81 during the third round of last week’s Wales Open — where he was also defending a 2010 championship — McDowell may be the reigning Open titleholder but he’ll have to up his game dramatically if he hopes even to contend.
To be sure, since shedding his status as a journeyman and rising almost to the top of the golf world, McDowell missed cuts at the Masters and April’s Classic of New Orleans and limped into a tie for 33rd at The Players. Not one of those professional athletes who blames his poor play on the conditions, his opponents, the referees, or the alignment of the planets, McDowell recently owned up to his on-course shortcomings and said he had much work to do.
“I’ve been playing some pretty dismal golf the last three or four weeks. New Orleans especially was awful,” he told reporters after the opening round of the Players Championship.
“New Orleans was the straw that broke the camel’s back, really,” McDowell added. “I knew I couldn’t continue swinging it the way I was swinging it and I had to do something about it.”
That something was to place an emergency call to his coach Pete Cowan, who had his student reciting his ABCs. “Pete and I…went back to basics and tried to build the swing back up from scratch,” McDowell conceded. “I found a couple little feelings that were different, and off we go again.”
Some of those “little feelings” may have kicked in, as McDowell surrounded his third-round meltdown at Celtic Manor — where he had previously kicked American butt in the Ryder Cup — with a 67, 68, and a 71. But it remains to be seen if he can put it all together on a Congressional course he found rather difficult during a recent practice round.
“Congressional 7574 yards Par 71 US Open set up,” he tweeted during his May 2 adventure on the Bethesda, Md., layout. “No-one will break par.”
And that was before his blowup in Wales, after which McDowell worried about his psychic toughness. “There’s some mental areas of my game that I’ve got to assess,” he told reporters after his tough third round. “When it’s going wrong, for some reason, I don’t really have that dig deep at the minute.”
Despite such rough going, the 31-year-old who came from three shots behind to win the Open at Pebble Beach and put his European Ryder Cup team over the top with the winning point still cherished last year’s success. During his whirlwind 2010, McDowell soared from 39th in the world rankings at the end of 2009 to as high as fifth place (he’s currently No. 8).
“To have the kind of season I had last year was just amazing,” he told reporters after negotiating his way around Congressional for the first time. “It was dream stuff.”
McDowell acknowledged that he did not anticipate another season like the one he had.
“To think that I could even remotely replicate that in 2011 was definitely a difficult task, and I’ve definitely tried to adjust my expectations this year accordingly,” he said. “It’s exciting to defend any title, but a major championship is extra special, and I realize when that gun goes off the first tee on Thursday morning, it’s not my title anymore.”
Unless he can fix what ails his game inside the ropes and between the ears in less than a week, McDowell will, indeed, likely hand over his title to the likes of world No. 1 Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, or some currently unknown golfer who plays out of his head for four days.
In any case, McDowell was reflective about what will come next. However the golf ball rolls next week, he knows he lived the dream.
“The game can beat you up sometimes, and I’m certainly starting to appreciate the good times now,” he said. “You’ve got to enjoy them, and I’m glad I did last year.”
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, National Golf Examiner, and GottaGoGolf websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
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