Birdie burst gives Graeme McDowell welcome boost at Sawgrass

Graeme McDowell produced a grandstand finish to finish in one under par 71 and an impressive opening to The Players Championship at Ponte Vedra last night.

The former US Open champion from Portrush badly needs a boost to a career that has lost much of its lustre over the past couple of years and some encouraging recent performances indicated that improvement was only just around the corner.

That hardly seemed to be the case when he mixed two birdies at the fifth and ninth on the way out with a couple of bogeys before a six at the long 11th saw him fall one over heading into one of golf’s most dangerous finishing stretches. To his credit, G-Mac birdied the short 13th and the water strewn par five 16th. However, the infamous short 17th with its island green and the equally dangerous 18th still lay in wait but he managed to par both to keep his hopes of a big finish very much alive.