Could in-form McDowell be the man to end the jinx?

IT has to happen sometime. That’s invariably the answer any time you query whether an Irishman will ever again capture his native Open Championship.

That may sound reasonable but with the passing of each tournament it sounds like it mightn’t be based on the soundest of logic.

The title hasn’t stayed at home since 1982, when John O’Leary prevailed at Portmarnock. Ronan Rafferty, Philip Walton, David Feherty, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley are just some of those who have tried break the jinx since.

The fervent hope of sponsors, Nissan, and just everybody associated with the Irish Open is that a home player will do the business this week. And should it come to pass, the man may not be one of the aforementioned but Portrush man Graeme McDowell, who arrived off a 66 in the final round of last week’s British Masters.

“The course is in great condition but the rough is thick and the bunkering severe, and although the greens are very good, if we get any wind then it will be a tough week”, accepts McDowell. “The harder the going, the greater likelihood is for the best players to come out on top. We saw that at the Forest of Arden. It takes a special kind of golfer to win in these conditions. He needs a lot of mental strength.

“The one thing we really don’t want is a lot of wind. Irishmen never mind when it blows but there was a four or five shot difference between the first three days last week and Sunday when the wind finally disappeared. That shows you what wind means on a firm golf course. There are some similarities between here and the Forest of Arden except the penalties at Carton are much more severe. Here you’ve got very deep bunkers. They are very severe and they make you think hard on the tee.

“It’s the penalty of a shot when you go in those fairway bunkers. You can get it up and down from the greenside bunkers but they’re also very deep. That 66 puts me in a good frame of mind for this week. I didn’t play well on the first two days last week but I put that right by Sunday.”

He is keeping a close eye on his schedule so as to best position himself for his Ryder Cup team challenge come next September. He still hankers after the US Tour and plays in Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial tournament the week after the BMW PGA Championship in the build-up to his first appearance in the US Open.

“My schedule is perfect in that I’ll be in America for four weeks and come back here for five. Obviously Chubby [manager Chubby Chandler] knows what he’s doing. I was never thinking of playing exclusively in the States. It’s difficult, though, to know how to attack it. You don’t want to make it a blinkered kind of goal because you’re playing in many great tournaments and you want to concentrate on them more than anything. Do well in those and the Ryder Cup looks after itself.”