McDowell ready to take on the world
He is up to 62nd, having begun the year a lowly 234th, an indication of the massive strides the 25-year-old Portrush man has made in 2004.
He has just two chances to propel himself the extra 12 spots which would make his campaign complete this week's European Tour-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama and next month's Visa Teiyheo Masters in Japan. He'll be up against some of the game's finest in both events but has discarded any feelings of inferiority and there is hardly a more confident player on the European Tour right now.
McDowell, at 5'11" and 12 stone in weight, has the bronzed features of a sportsman who plies his trade in some of the sunnier parts of the world, and clearly feels at home both among his fellow professionals and dealing with the increasing number of requests he receives for media interviews.
"The season has exceeded all my expectations," he said in the delightful autumnal Spanish sunshine at Valderrama yesterday.
"Actually, the last few months could have been even better although, obviously, I played some great stuff. I put myself in position a lot and while I haven't come through in the clutch, there have been a lot of positives. I played great in the Dunhill and just missed out in the play-off. I've kept putting myself there which is what I've always strived to do.
"I've always dreamed of a level of consistency where even on the weeks when I'm not striking the ball as well as I can and Madrid at the weekend was a case in point that I can still be in touch with the leaders. That's a test of how my short game has become and how well my mental ability has developed. I've been working on the right stuff and now I'm putting better than I ever have. I know an awful lot more about my game and I'm just riding on confidence right now and that helps a lot."
McDowell turned professional in 2002 on the back of a seemingly endless string of amateur successes, most notably the Irish Close and South of Ireland Championships and victory in the Walker Cup. He won the Scandinavian Masters in only his fourth tournament. Last year was a much slower season and this one didn't start too auspiciously either.
But victory in the Italian Open in May kick-started things once again until he stands sixth in the money list with a very handsome total of 1,595,862. Furthermore, his manager Chubby Chandler has also negotiated a series of contracts with companies like Davy Stockbrokers and TaylorMade, meaning that he is already a millionaire.
"You can never put a number on things like this but I feel my experience level has increased an awful lot and keeping on an upward curve with never-ending improvement, that's what this game is all about", he says.
You're just striving to get better, to win majors and Ryder Cups. There's always improvement you can make in this game. Hopefully it's going to be a long career for me."
Quite understandably, McDowell looks back on his victory in the
Italian Open as the high point of his campaign, while he was also thrilled to shoot a record-equalling 62 at St Andrews on the way to tying for the Dunhill Links. He goes into Americanese as he describes it as "a lot of fun" and makes no attempt to hide his liking for all things Stateside.
After all, he was the outstanding collegiate golfer over there during his years at the University of Alabama, shooting a stroke average of 69.6 in 2001 that bettered previous marks set by Tiger Woods and Luke Donald.
"My targets are to get myself far enough up in the world to guarantee a lot of starts in the States," he says.
"That's the next level and hopefully I'll play a lot more over there next year on the back of my play this year. I'm not looking to go to their Tour School, I'm content here in Europe. You can get caught chasing stuff over there and tire yourself out early. Chubby is aware that Lee Westwood did that and did nothing but wear himself out. Chubby is very sharp. We have an 'A' and a 'B' schedule. 'A' is a bit of a wish list, 'B' is where I concentrate pretty much on Europe. It depends on whether I can make the top 50 before the Masters. That's the primary target."
Until that situation has been clarified, Graeme has deferred his schedule for 2005, although much of it is straightforward. He accepts he played too many tournaments this year but even finds a positive in that.
"That only happened because I was chasing the big tournaments and wasn't expecting to play the British Open and the US PGA and the Amex."
Watch out for McDowell at Valderrama this week and every time he tees it up. He is a special golfer and undoubtedly a man for the big time in the future.
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