Big names ready to get back to work at Riviera
Mcdowell, Scott, Donald savoured break from golf
LOS ANGELES — Graeme McDowell tried not to watch golf on TV the past few months to avoid the temptation to play. Adam Scott has been so far removed from the game that he didn’t learn about Phil Mickelson’s cruel lipout for a 59 until he finished his pro-am round Wednesday at Riviera.
“Was it a big lipout? Oh, that stinks,” Scott said.
It’s not that news travels slowly Down Under. But when the 32-yearold Australian gets away from golf, he really gets away. Asked if he had any idea what’s gone on over the last six weeks of the PGA Tour season, Scott mentioned Brandt Snedeker winning at Pebble Beach after being runner-up in consecutive weeks.
“I know Brandt is playing really good,” he said. “I was in America last weekend.”
As much as golf is played around the clock and around the world, there’s still time for a long winter’s nap. The off-season is as long as players want it to be.
McDowell, Scott and Luke Donald are proof of that.
They are playing together the opening two rounds of the Northern Trust Open, which is only fitting. They are the only three players from the top 20 in the world who have yet to play anywhere in the world this year.
Donald last played in Dubai last November. McDowell hasn’t played since winning the World Challenge up the road at Sherwood the week after Thanksgiving. Scott’s most recent tournament was the second weekend of December at the Australian Open.
It’s a formula that works for Donald.
Two years ago, he returned from a long break, shot 79 in the second round at Riviera to miss the cut, and then won a week later in the Match Play Championship, the first step toward going to No. 1 in the world.
“It’s been a long year, and it’s hard to find breaks and it’s hard to find time where you can actually work on your swing to try and make some improvements with your game,” Donald said. “So I took a decent amount of time off, but I feel rested, ready to go.”
McDowell learned the hard way. Coming off his dream season in 2010 — a U.S. Open title at Pebble Beach, the clinching point for Europe in the Ryder Cup, coming from four shots behind to beat Tiger Woods at Sherwood — he started up again in Hawaii and never felt like he had time to recharge.
He took 10 weeks off this year, the longest break since he can remember. It was long enough to joke about the white legs of his English caddie, Ken Comboy. And he has no regrets. “You have to be disciplined enough to do it,” McDowell said as he walked down the first fairway on a gorgeous day off Sunset Boulevard. “I resisted the temptation to turn the TV on the last month to see guys at Kapalua, to see guys at Torrey Pines, to see guys at Phoenix. It’s hard especially for the guys playing two tours. You play right up into December and then you’ve got to tee it up in the Middle East. If you play the European Tour, there is no off-season.”
McDowell said he has been bombarded with tweets from his followers in recent weeks, asking why he wasn’t at Abu Dhabi or any of the West Coast events on the PGA Tour.
“It’s hard to turn down great purses, great sponsors, great courses,” he said. “But you’ve got to pick and choose if you want career longevity.”
For Scott, this break was not an accident. He plans to play four of the next five weeks, only missing the Honda Classic. His aim, like other players, is to be fresh in the summer.
“There isn’t a long off-season if you don’t want there to be one,” Scott said. “I’ve played plenty of golf over the last 10 or 12 years as a pro, and I’m going to play heaps more. Missing a few events is not going to hurt me. My main focus is to be prepared, being fresh and ready during the major season. If you rush out and play a bunch early, when June comes around, you’re fatigued early. And that’s the biggest golf there is.”