Graeme McDowell chasing hat-trick in France

Graeme McDowell will look to write his name in the record books by securing a hat-trick of wins in the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National this week.

McDowell successfully defended a title for the first time in his career 12 months ago and would become the first player since Marcel Dallemagne in 1938 to win Continental Europe’s oldest Open three times in succession with another victory on Sunday.

The Ryder Cup star would also become just the sixth player, after Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, to claim a hat-trick of European Tour titles in the same event.

“Having a chance to win a tournament three times in a row is very special,” McDowell told a pre-tournament press conference.

“I’ve always enjoyed this golf course, right back in the early days when I would come here.”

McDowell has recorded just one top-10 finish on the European Tour in 2015, in the Dubai Desert Classic at the start of February, and missed the cut in the US Open at Chambers Bay in his last event.

The 35-year-old admits there have been welcome distractions in his life since the birth of his first child last September, but insists his game is heading in the right direction.

“Really I have to start the ball rolling again and start that momentum gathering,” McDowell added.

“I feel a lot happier where I am mentally now than where I was four or five months ago.

“I know I’m good enough and I know that if I keep doing what I’m doing, things will come back.

“It’s been a lot of fun the last year personally, I wouldn’t change that for anything. I’ve got to get back at it, and I have been getting back at it.

“Momentum was killed a little bit the last couple of weeks, but there’s no better time to start playing well than right now with all the golf ahead of me.”