Spieth gets McDowell to join the crowd
Cromwell — When Graeme McDowell decides to add a new PGA Tour event to his annual schedule, he does the smart thing and asks other players about the potential new tournaments.
So when McDowell considered making the Travelers Championship one of his tour stops this year, who better to ask than the defending champion?
"I think he (Jordan Spieth) is a decent guy to speak to since he won here last year, so he wasn't going to sell me short," McDowell said. "I speak to guys that have comparable games to me like (Jim) Furyk, Zach Johnson, (Brandt) Snedeker, guys who are putters, scramblers who don't necessarily hit it 350 yards. Those are typically guys I ask to try to weigh up a golf course to go to for the first time."
So McDowell, 38, a former U.S. Open champion, committed to the tournament for the first time on June 11, to help make a strong field at the Travelers even better. He tees off at hole No. 10 at 8:10 a.m. on Thursday with Charley Hoffman and Matt Every.
Spieth said Tuesday he had the conversation with McDowell at the AT&T Byron Nelson when they were paired together.
"There are tournaments on the PGA Tour that could be great fits for me and this is one of those. I just regret I hadn't been playing here my entire PGA Tour career," Spieth said. "I really liked the shape of the holes, so that's what I told Graeme. It's that simple."
Said McDowell: "I felt like (TPC River Highlands) was a course that would appeal to my style of play. Obviously, they're doing something right up here attracting this type of field. It's one I wanted to add to the schedule, come and put some more Fed Ex points on the board."
McDowell is in need of some Fed ExCup points. He is ranked 137th in the standings — the top 125 qualify for the playoffs in two months — and is just 173rd in the world golf rankings.
That's a far cry from when McDowell won the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and won the clinching point for Europe at the Ryder Cup later that year. His best finish on tour this year
year is a tie for 22nd at both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
He missed the cut by a stroke at the U.S. Open last week at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
"My game is in good shape," McDowell said. "I hit it really well tee to green, struggled on the greens Thursday afternoon. It was really tough to putt and I didn't putt well. I felt like it took the weapon out of my hands, which is my putter. On Friday, I played better. I felt like I had done enough, so I was obviously disappointed to go home. But I'm looking forward to having a strong week this week."
So McDowell spent the weekend like rest of the golfing world: watching the Open. And like most everyone else, McDowell had a take on Phil Mickelson's escapades at the 13th hole at Shinnecock.
Mickelson hit a moving ball on the 13th green, which resulted in a two-stroke penalty and a 10 on the hole. McDowell felt it was a suitable punishment.
"I thought Phil could've handled it differently. If he had held his hands up and said, 'Hey, I messed up, it was a crazy moment of insanity,' I think it would have went away," McDowell said. "The chances of a scenario happening where you could pull the Phil swipe and actually gain an advantage, one in a thousand-million, it's not possible . ... I don't think any justification was needed from him. He got Shinnecocked, something in the spur of the moment that seemed so crazy to us all watching on TV because it was something we hadn't seen before."
McDowell will be looking for his first tournament victory since claiming the 2016 OHL Classic at Mayakoba.