McDowell in contention at Bay Hill

Graeme McDowell continued an amazing month for European golfers in Florida with a second round 63 in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill today.

The Northern Irishman has seen compatriot Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Luke Donald win the last three PGA Tour events and from six off the pace after his opening 72 he moved alongside early clubhouse leader Jason Dufner.

The American added a 69 to his opening 66 to stand nine under par at halfway and then had to wait to see what the chasing pack – Tiger Woods and Rose included – could do later in the day.

McDowell has fond memories of the event, finishing second back in 2005, and his round matched his lowest-ever score in the States.

Birdies at the fourth and fifth began his move through the field from joint 27th overnight and he then holed from 27 feet at the short seventh and 32 feet on the next.

A 98-yard pitch to four feet at the 10th took the 2010 US Open champion to five under for the day and two holes later, after driving into a bunker, he hit his third shot to five feet to set up his sixth birdie.

The best was still to come, though. A 215-yard approach to seven feet on the 16th brought an eagle and he rounded off an inward 31 with a 10-foot birdie putt at the last.

At that point he and Dufner were three clear of Korean Charlie Wi, who had yet to resume, while Sergio Garcia was only four back after a 67 and both defending champion Martin Laird (68) and Ian Poulter (69) five behind.

Woods and Rose, joint fourth after starting with rounds of 69, both parred their first two holes.

Rose had a hat-trick of birdies from the fourth, but Woods went one better than that and at seven under was tied for third with Wi and only two behind McDowell and Dufner.

McDowell said: “I got off to quite a slow start actually with the putter and then kind of got going a little bit.

“Shooting 63 on a golf course like this is always a lot of fun and this is always an event that I like to put in my schedule.Mr Palmer is our host and it always has that special feel to it.

“I’m playing the next three weeks now and I’m mentally and physically fresher than I’ve been for a long time. It’s nice to be kind of back under the radar I suppose a little bit.

“This time last year I was certainly in the limelight and that takes a little bit of getting used to for a guy who has never really had to do that before.

“You have to get back into the state of mind that I was in in 2010. I wish you could bottle up the way you feel when golf is easy because when golf is difficult, it’s very difficult.

“I guess I learned a lot of lessons from my 2011 season. I felt like I did a lot of growing up and I went through a process where I acclimatised to being one of the best players in the world and it was a difficult process.”