McDowell happy to play it slow and steady this time

LEADING the way in round one of the Open Championship is nothing new to Graeme McDowell although he came up short at Turnberry yesterday after looking a likely candidate for much of his round.

Birdies at the first, third and fifth moved him to three under par but much of the momentum went out of his game after he three putted the short sixth and in the end he had to settle for a two under par 68. So he was unable to emulate 2006 when he led the way at Hoylake with a six under 66 or last year at Royal Birkdale where he tied for first place after a two under 69.

“I guess there is no point in leading the Open on the Thursday, I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work! So I’m quite content to post my two-under, sit back and really creep up along at the weekend.

“I’m very happy with the way my game is going. I’ve been hitting a load of nice shots and I like the way the course is set up. It was absolutely perfect, it was a beautiful morning to play golf and I had a lot of fun.”

The par four 16th at Turnberry has been considerably revamped and now has the most evil looking burn known as Wilson’s running across the front of the green. It caught out many players yesterday including Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood and McDowell was another to take double bogey there.

“That was disappointing and I felt like I paid the price for my small number of bad shots,” he claimed. “It was a very tough second shot in there and I had an iffy lie with the ball below my feet. I did exactly what I shouldn’t have done: miss the green right. Apart from that I can’t really complain, I hung on in there well, putted lovely and gave myself loads of chances.

“I’ll continue to do what I’m doing. I know I have the game to be there or thereabouts come Sunday.”

One of the most encouraging aspects of McDowell’s round was that he hit back impressively after the double bogey by making four at the long 17th thanks to a beautifully struck hybrid shot from 254 yards that pulled up 30 feet short of the flag.

“It’s always good to react to frustration on the golf course and it’s something I work very hard on,” he said. “I really wanted to go out today and make sure my attitude was good despite anything that the course threw at me. The double on 16 was extremely disappointing but I tried to react to it as well as I could.

“The crowds seemed like they’re down a little bit. This Open needs a story like last year with Greg up there. It can only do great things for the tournament with Tom Watson leading the way and hopefully that will increase the atmosphere for the weekend.”

When it was pointed out that he could spoil the story, McDowell agreed: “Ah, of course, you’ve got to be prepared to beat anyone in front of you come Sunday afternoon. Like I say, it’s great to see Tom up there and if he can hang in there for the weekend, great, if not I’ll be trying hard with my game to make sure I’m in contention. Duelling it out with Tom on Sunday would be kind of cool but obviously I’ll duel with anybody in the sunshine around here.”

Darren Clarke came in with a 71, a score with which he was pleased while accepting that there was a great chance for a lot better, admitting he took a “poor double” at the 10th.

“Even so, 71 is a decent score,” he said. “I’m three over par playing 14 and I’ve hit a three wood up the fairway into the middle of a big divot. I got a six iron back in my stance as much as I could and hit it up there to 20 feet and holed the putt. I got a nice birdie on the 17th and hit a nice putt at the last that just stayed out. I can’t quite get any momentum at the moment and it’s bit of a fight and a battle to keep things going.”

Waterville’s David Higgins hit back spiritedly after taking a double bogey six at the fifth to return a 73 that keeps him in with a decent chance of making the cut. Out in 38, he mixed a bogey at the 12th with a birdie at the 14th to get home in 35 and with every indication that his game was coming around nicely.

“I knew coming here that I had to hit the fairways and I didn’t do that,” Higgins admitted.