Portrush local Graeme McDowell says prospect of hometown Open fired him back to form
It was exactly a year ago that Graeme McDowell, the man who was born in Portrush and learnt how to play golf on the very same site that is now hosting the Open, had a life-changing moment of realisation. “My journey has been really about facing the demons of mortality,” he says. “I had that conversation with myself. I said, ‘Hey, if you continue to play the way you're playing, this game is going to be gone a hell of a lot quicker than you thought. What's that going to feel like?’ You’d miss it really badly.”
McDowell had been solidly ranked in the world’s top 20 for six years after winning the 2010 US Open and yet then began a slide that saw him become something of the forgotten man of European golf. No wins in 2016. None in 2017 and nothing again in 2018. Out of the Ryder Cup team and not even invited to the Masters or Open since 2016.
McDowell had fallen outside the world’s top 200 and the stark reality was that he had become a long shot to even make the first tee on Thursday in front of his closest family and friends. Still aged only 39, and having been such an important figure in helping to get the Open back to Portrush, it would have been agonising to miss such a unique opportunity.
“I think coming to that realisation helped me because it made me start to embrace the challenge,” he says. “It's weird, the fog started to lift a little bit. I finished last year pretty strongly and came out pretty strongly this year.” McDowell won again in the Dominican Republic in March and, having finished in the top 30 at both the US PGA and US Open over the past two months, returned to the world’s top 100 and qualified for the Open. He can admit now that it would have been too painful to even be back home in Portrush if he had not been playing.
“I had a couple of other small commitments early in the week - my plan was to do those and get out of here, because I couldn't stand to be here, it would be too bittersweet,” he said. As it is, McDowell says that the local crowd made it feel more like a Ryder Cup even when he was simply practicing on Tuesday. More fervour is sure to follow when he begins on Thursday at 9.14am.
“The welcome I have received has been epic - I didn't really expect the buzz and just how genuinely happy, proud and excited people are,” he says,
“When the ball really started to get rolling for Portrush was when Padraig [Harrington] won his three majors. Then I won and Rory [McIlroy] and Darren [Clarke] picked up a major. The jokes turned kind of serious. It was the Irish Open in 2012 when we broke the European Tour attendance record. I think the R&A couldn't ignore the fact it could be a commercial success. It was like, ‘We can do this, we can pull it off’.”
It was fascinating yesterday also to hear McDowell’s assessment of the Royal Portrush course and how the benign recent conditions may work to his advantage. “Ninety per cent of the golf course remains exactly how I remember it,” he said. “I don't think you ever really lose the memory of the nuances and the bounces.
“I feel like the guys have perhaps not had the best few days of preparation, with how calm it played Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. I was here a couple of weeks ago and played it in the proper summertime wind. I feel like my experiences here should help as this golf course begins to change. The guys haven't really had a chance to see this place with its teeth sharp.”
And, despite having not contended to win the Open since 2014, McDowell thinks that can change this weekend. “I certainly believe I can,” he said. “If I can somehow get out of the blocks, get myself settle, and get into the mix, it would be pretty cool to be coming back down on Sunday. That's the vision and I can't wait to hear what it sounds like.”
