‘I want to show my kids that I’m a great player’
CONFIDENCE STRUGGLE FOR G-MAC
AHEAD of his final Irish Open in his 30s, Graeme McDowell put it all on the Ballyliffin table yesterday. Nothing was off limits.
McDowell talked about his clubs, his game, and his dream of hugging his kids as a tournament winner again on the 72nd green.
Tellingly, he also revealed ‘the scar tissue’ that continues to stalk him on a golf course.
McDowell was part of a pro-am fourball that beat up Ballyliffin in 30 under par yesterday.
But that was a ‘carefree’ round. Today, it’s the real deal and he’s unsure which version of McDowell will turn up at the 10th tee at 8.20am.
‘I’m struggling with confidence,’ he acknowledged. ‘It’s that little bit of scar tissue that builds up over three or four years of not playing well.’
‘You know, you play your best golf when you don’t care; when you get on the golf course and let it go, you play carefree.
‘It’s hard to play carefree when you’ve had three or four years of not playing well. You need it too badly and you want it too badly, and it matters too much to you and that takes the carefreeness away.’
McDowell has won the US Open, played in four winning Ryder Cup teams, and has 14 tournament wins on his CV. He also got to fourth in the world ranking in March 2011.
It’s impressive, but he’s been trending the wrong way since his last win in 2015, and it hurts.
‘I still love to compete and don’t want to go out like this,’ he said.
‘You definitely become more reflective later in years, like, “Why am I out here? Do I want to keep doing this? Do I want to hole six-footers for the next ten years?” It’s a hard sport, especially when it’s not going well.
‘I’d really like another two or three years at the top of the game. I’ve got young kids. I have that visual of having my kids come on to the 72nd green of a tournament.
‘I want to show them that I am a great player and don’t have to pull out the old DVDs, if they know what a DVD is,’ he added wryly.
And yet, McDowell can see a way forward. He reckons the boat has bounced off the bottom and is beginning to float again, and recent performances suggest he is right.
He was 12th in the PGA Championship at Wentworth, fifth in the Italian Open and but for a ‘snowman’ in Paris at the end of his second round, he’d have challenged in the Open de France last weekend.
‘It’s been a big turnaround this year compared to last year, even though you put my results beside each other, they look similar.
‘Last year was frustrating. I didn’t enjoy playing and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. This year I’m starting to be like my old self again but still can’t get across the line.
‘I made 19 birdies at the French Open. Just made too many mistakes but I’m certainly playing good enough golf to compete any week at the minute,’ he said. Could this be the week? It could, for Ballyliffin presents a tactical challenge with carefully placed bunkering which will suit McDowell’s game. But ultimately, if the weather holds, the outcome will evolve into a putting contest and McDowell has predicted sizzling scoring, between 20 and 25 under par. He’d love to be in there, burning it up with his blade, like the G-Mac of old.