Graeme McDowell ready to flourish without Portrush pressure

With the pressure of securing a starting spot in his hometown Open Championship later this month now lifted, Graeme McDowell is relishing the opportunity to free his mind and concentrate on the task at hand: a good week in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Had the Northern Irishman not sealed that prized exemption into the oldest major, making its first trip to Royal Portrush since 1951 in a fortnight, this week could have turned out very differently. McDowell might have faced the possibility of having to trek to Open qualifying in Lancashire on Tuesday before arriving in Lahinch yesterday for a single day’s preparation for the Irish Open and the pressure building all the time to achieve his season’s goal of playing a major on his native Antrim coast.