McDowell targets top 50 ranking

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell has won the Royal Trophy, Seve Trophy, Walker Cup and Palmer Cup and is confident his recent run of consistent form can thrust him into Nick Faldo’s mind for the ultimate team showdown at Valhalla in September.

McDowell, seeking a first European Tour victory in three and a half years following his 2004 triumph at the Italia Open, carded a second consecutive three-under-par 69 on Friday to sit two shots adrift of Indian Masters leader Damien McGrane at the halfway point of the inaugural event in the Indian capital.

McGrane, who played over the weekend in Dubai last week with world number one Tiger Woods, moved onto eight under-par with a second round 69 to head into the weekend clear of McDowell, South Africa’s Hendrik Buhrmann and Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin, who also recorded back-to-back 69s.

McDowell dubbed leader McGrane a “dogged competitor” and admitted he was not surprised to see the Irishman at the top of the leaderboard courtesy of his “great” short game.

“I would like to try and do the same thing day-in day-out,” said McGrane. “I found a formula around the course that seems to be giving me good numbers, so I will try and hit the same clubs off the tee box and give myself as many birdie opportunities as possible.”

McDowell spent two years playing on the PGA Tour in America after accepting a golf scholarship, where he won the he won the Haskins Award for most outstanding collegiate golfer in the golfer in 2002.

A year earlier he had been part of the victorious with Great Britain & Ireland in the Palmer Cup, a tournament which pits American college golfers against their European counterparts before tasting Walker Cup (2001), Seve Trophy (2005) and Royal trophy (2006) success.

And after ending 2007 with two top six finishes at the Volvo Masters and Hong Kong Open, McDowell made a steady start to 2008 and worked his way up to fifth place last week in Dubai, and is confident his start to the year will see him return to the world’s top 50 and put him in contention for a Ryder Cup berth.

“I want to end the year in the top 50. I’m off to a decent start. I made a good impact in Dubai last week,” said McDowell, who is reaping the rewards of a fitness regime he started last September.

“Top 50 is where things start to happen. If I could break that barrier again and start getting myself into majors and WGCs, that’s where you can start to make consistency pay.

“I don’t think my world ranking reflects how far I think I’ve come in the last 18 months, I think my game has turned around a lot. I’ve been working very hard and want to make an impact on the world rankings.”

McDowell’s form has received a stern test in Delhi this week on the tight tree-lined course which demands short iron play in contrast to the booming drives which are now common place.

“I really have been trying to slow myself down, patience is the key word this week. You can’t get frustrated because the second you try and push that’s when you find yourself in trouble. It’s a course which tests completely different aspects of your game, it’s as far from a physical test as possible,” added McDowell.

“I think mental strength is one of my strengths as far as being patient and finding fairways and my short game has been improving.”

Sweden’s Mickael Lundberg (68) sits alone in fifth at five-under, with Dane Thomas Bjorn (72) and Benn Barham (71) leading a group a further shot adrift.

Darren Clarke (69) used a chip-in eagle at the 18th to propel himself into a group at three-under, while world number four Ernie Els carded a second round two-under-par 70 to beat the cut by three strokes.

The South African, the highest player in the field this week, was in danger of missing out on the weekend after a opening round 75, which included a quadruple bogey nine at his ninth hole.

“I started hitting the ball really well midway through my round. I missed a couple of fairways like the 13th which cost me a bogey, but I really played well coming in,” said the two-time US Open champion.

“I was just getting to get back to even, I’m one over now so I’ll try and get something going in the morning. If I can somehow get to six-under, I might get a chance on Sunday.”