Oak Hills visit evokes memories of 1996 Ryder Cup for McDowell

Graeme McDowell is relishing next week’s visit to Oak Hills and the PGA Championship.

Almost two decades ago a teenage McDowell watched a dramatic Ryder Cup unfold at the New York venue.

And a love affair with golf blossomed into dreams of a career in the professional ranks.

“Watching TV coverage of the 1995 Ryder Cup was the first time I started getting my head into golf and seriously dreaming of being out here on the Tour,” said McDowell.

“I was 16 and it was the first Ryder Cup I was properly in to. I remember (Nick) Faldo missing it right and laying–up against Curtis Strange but getting up-and-down to win his match.

“I remember David Gilford putting from the rough but then Seve carrying Gilford in their match.

“Then for Phillip Walton to come back to Ireland as the hero in holing the winning putt was just great.”

McDowell had his first look at Oak Hill in suburban Rochester in New York a week ago. He left with mixed feelings.

“I agree with Tiger’s comments in that the greens are not great and they are certainly not as good as the club and the PGA of America would like them to be,” said McDowell.

“I am not sure given the rain they’ve had in the area whether they have put far too much sand on them in order to dry them out because they seemed to have lost their surface a little bit.

“They putt well but there is not a lot of base to them, so they will be very, very soft and like Tiger said, they are not going to be very fast.

“The rest of Oak Hill is immaculate but it’s disappointing the greens are not as pristine as they would like them to be.”

McDowell was hard-pressed to name a course similar to Oak Hill before settling on Firestone Country Club.

“It’s a traditional old style tree-lined course just like here at Firestone in that it feels old school and where you have to move the ball around a lot,” said McDowell. “The front nine is characterised by a lot of overhanging trees that you have to navigate your way through whereas the back nine is pretty straight forward off the tee but with 17 and 18 really brutal.

“So, Oak Hill is very much an old school American golf course with some chances of getting it on the fairway. In saying that, I like it as it’s US Open style but it’s fair.”