Fighting finish from defending champ McDowell

GRAEME MCDOWELL ended his reign as US Open champion with head held high and a top-20 finish at Congressional Country Club last night.

The Portrush golfer had started the day on level par at the par-71 Blue Course after rounds of 70, 74 and 69 and he added another 69 to finish at two under for the championship, tying for 14th place a year after claiming top spot at Pebble Beach in even par.

There had been problems with his putting all week but the rest of his game had been in good order, finding fairways off the tee and getting onto greens in regulation. And after a steady start to his final round he kicked on from the sixth hole, with birdies at that par-five, the par-three seventh and the par-five ninth to make the turn at three under.

McDowell was pegged back with a bogey at the par-four 11th and he played out the rest of his round to par.

“A good day. I guess that’s my problem. It was a lot of fun. I got here as the US Open champion, I loved every second of it, and (I’m) very happy with that defence of the title.

“The golf course softened up and perhaps maybe didn’t suit my game the way a firmer, faster golf course would have, but that’s Mother Nature and you can’t do anything about that.

“Tee to green, I played beautiful this week. I think I’m up there in the top five in greens in regulation this week.

“The putter was cold. I just didn’t get it rolling at all. The greens kind of had me foxed, had me confused, but (I’m) very happy with my weekend.”

Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington concluded his 14th US Open at five over par following a final-round, two-over-par 73.

The Dubliner had begun his last day at Congressional with a birdie at the par-four first but his round unravelled around the turn with bogeys at the par-three seventh and 10th as well as the par-five ninth. Some respite came at the next par-three, the 13th, which Harrington birdied but he gave the shot back at the par-five 16th.

Harrington was in good company on five under for his week’s work in a tie for 45th as world number one Luke Donald finished on the same mark having posted his lowest round of the tournament, a five-birdie, three-bogey 69.

“Not quite the tournament I wanted, but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” Donald said.

“It was not necessarily (putting) added pressure on myself, but I think the last six or seven weeks has taken a lot out of me.

“I’ve certainly been in contention a lot, played a lot of golf in different countries, different time zones, and I probably haven’t got my energy levels quite back up to where I would have liked them to be at the beginning of this week. But no excuses, I just didn’t play well enough.”

* SEVEN years ago, Gerry McIlroy placed a £400 bet at 500/1 that his son would win the British Open before he was 25. It might have come last July but by the time the Open returns to St Andrew’s in 2015 the bet will have been well collected.