It's never a good sign to be finished your work early on a Sunday. Luke Donald was wheeling his golf bag out of the locker room. Zach Johnson was busy signing autographs. Not long afterwards, Graeme McDowell was nudging his way into a place by the ropes and posing for photographs and putting his signature to flags, programmes and anything else that was offered his way.
G-Mac had finished his interest in the WGC-Cadillac Championship with a 77 for 298, 10-over-par, that reflected the struggles he had encountered with the wind and with his game. It left him well down the field, but not in any mood for self-pity. Ironically, and testament to how golfers often view things differently than purely the score a golf card, McDowell claimed: "Today was actually the best I have hit it this week."
Out on the course, McDowell had started with a horrid run of three straight bogeys and would turn in 40. Flickers of light came through on the back nine, with birdies on the 12th and 16th until a poor finish of bogey-double bogey on his closing two holes.
This has been a slow start to the season for McDowell. In his two appearances on the European Tour, he finished tied-36th in the Malaysian Open and tied-ninth in the Dubai Desert Classic before missing the cut on his first appearance of the year on the US Tour in last week’s Honda Classic. Now, a tied-57th in the Cadillac and a cheque for $47,100 (€43,500)!
With a week off ahead of him, McDowell’s pre-Masters schedule will see him take in next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and the following week’s Valero Texas Open.
“Obviously, I’ve on eye on Augusta at this time of the year of course, but I am looking at the big picture. I have got to get myself to click back into gear. I have got to get myself back in the red and making some good swings under pressure at the weekend.
“That’s really what I need right now but there is no panic buttons. I have had a decent break and this is when it starts to pay off the next few months, the freshness, and I have just got to play a little better.”
McDowell added: “I have got a little bit of work to do on my game, it is a work in progress. The key to my game is getting the fade back in the bag. That’s really the focus of my work at the minute. This golf course exposes you when you are not on your game, these condition, if you are not controlling your ball flight.
“ I’ve learnt lessons, I have a lot to work on, but a few things to pull from and we will move on. . It’s a long old season thankfully.”
