McDowell can’t geta grip on Augusta

Graeme McDowell was trying hard to focus on the positives as he left Augusta National for the 135-mile drive south to Hilton Head Island.

This week’s RBC Heritage tournament moves the PGA Tour on to South Carolina where McDowell will defend the title he won a year ago at the Harbour Links to break a two-and-a-half year victory drought stretching back to his breakout year of 2010. What is more, it kick-started a seven-event streak that also brought wins at the Volvo World Match Play Championship and Alstom Open de France.

Yet the dejection was understandable at the weekend having missed the Masters cut for a second consecutive year, his fifth MC in seven appearances at Augusta National on a course he reveres but cannot come to terms with.