McDowell aiming to reign in Spain

Graeme McDowell goes into today’s first round contest against Sweden’s Robert Karlsson in the Volvo World Match Play Championship at Finca Cortesin near Estepona in Southern Spain hopeful that a change from the regular diet of stroke play to head-to-head confrontations will provide the kick start that his career badly needs.

The 2010 US Open champion and hero of Europe’s Ryder Cup victory over the Americans at Celtic Manor the same year has failed to reproduce that kind of form over the past 18 months. Candid as ever, he makes no attempt to conceal his frustration and realises that unless he gets things going — and quickly, he may well struggle for his place in this year’s Ryder Cup team.

He is currently 7th of the automatic 10 places and even if the worst came to the worst, he might well receive one of captain Jose-Maria Olazabal’s two “wild card” picks. Such a situation, however, doesn’t sit at all well with the 32 year-old Portrush man.