G-Mac comes into his own
The Portrush battler chiselled out an incredible, one-under 71 — the joint best round of the earlier finishers — to move into a provisional share of second with Francesco Molinari (75) on level par, just a shot behind leader Patrick Reed (75).
The revamped Blue Monster was taking its toll on 49 of the world’s top 50 with the world’s top three of Tiger Woods (73), Adam Scott (73) and Henrik Stenson (76) a combined 14 over for the tournament after the second day.
But McDowell thrives in links-style conditions and while others complained, he accepted it for what it was.
“I don’t think I’ve played in conditions this difficult in the US,” he said. “It’s an Open Championship day. It’s a real Friday afternoon at St Andrews in 2010, you know, before they called it.
“It was hard out there, really, really hard, and part of me feels ecstatic to be off the golf course right now.
“Obviously I’m really happy with my 71 and I’m excited to go and watch the golf here and just see how everyone else is handling these really hard conditions.
“You can’t really call it unfair when everyone gets a chance to play it.”
More than 70 balls had gone into the water by mid-afternoon, but McDowell stayed dry all day.
“It was just really tough to pick your iron shots and pick the right shape and just hang in there,” he said.
“I was just really happy with the way I controlled my ball flight and holed some nice putts on the front nine to keep me hanging in there.”
It was an incredible effort from the 2010 US Open champion on a day of disaster for most as winds gusting over 50kph sent the scoring average soaring from 73 for the first round to close to 77 last night
As McDowell was grinding, new Doral owner Donald Trump roamed the media centre and told the scribes: “The Blue Monster is back!”
The field struggled but McDowell almost made it look easy as he plotted his way around.
McDowell added: “Windy. Firm. Tough. You’ve got to be very patient out there. It’s very difficult. It could have been 78, it could have been 68. It was a mixed bag…I’m hitting it well.”
Starting on the back nine, he birdied the long 12th with a wedge to 11ft, holed a six-footer for par at the next and then hit a glorious low draw with a fairway wood from the rough to find the apron of the 14th from where he two-putted from 90 feet for par.
With a north wind gusting on a course more exposed than ever following the redesign, he should have been in his element, but looked to be suffering as much as his playing partners, Bubba Watson (72) and the normally serene Steve Stricker (78).
Forced to save par from 10 feet after overshooting the exposed 16th, and four feet at the 17th after a long-range approach putt, he missed an eight-footer for birdie at the downwind 18th before stroking home a 30-footer at the second to move into the top 10 on one under.
He had one of just four bogey-free rounds going until he overshot the sixth and had no chance of getting his pitch close. But he then got up and down for par from 53 yards at the seventh and parred the par-five eighth before two-putting from nearly 60 feet on his final hole.
Rory McIlroy had two bogeys and a double bogey at the seventh as he went out in 40, before hitting back with birdies at the 11th and 13th. However, he then bogeyed 14 and was tied for seventh, three shots off the pace, with three holes left to play.
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