U.S. Open Golf Chronicle: Our Champion Graeme McDowell
As I listened to Graeme McDowell recall his final round, I could not help but think of Ben Crane and his win at Torrey Pines.
No, this has nothing to do with pace of play.
I will forever remember Crane for what he didn’t do that day; look at a leaderboard. After putting-out to win the Tournament, a none the wiser Crane casually turned to shake playing partner Ryuji Imada’s hand.
Imada in turn, informed Crane that he had just won.
For his part, Graeme McDowell didn’t peaked at the leaderboard until after his second bogey of the day, “I bogeyed 9 and 10, I looked up at the leaderboard and I was surprised to be 2 ahead, I really was.”
While the winners of 21 combined Majors crumbled around him, the little known Irishman had only one competitor to worry about, an unknown Frenchman ranked 391st in the world.
“I was surprised that Gregory Havret was the guy closest to me. No disrespect to Gregory, he’s a great player, but when you have Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els obviously there, you’re not expecting Gregory Havret to be the guy you’ve got to fend off.”
In the end he did just that, knowing exactly what needed to do to win the Tournament. “When I saw him (Gregory Havret) not birdie 18, I had my decision made.”
McDowell, after a short chat with caddy Ken Comboy, played the 18th as a classic par 5 laying up to 100 yards and two putting for his first major.
Moments after tapping-in, McDowell was rushed by father Kenny and given a big hug. “My father said there’s only thing he wanted for Father’s Day, and I wasn’t quite sure whether I was going to be able to deliver that.”
As touching as it was to hear him speak about his father and credit him for much of his success in golf, McDowell should have been thanking the person who’s name is etched two spots above his on the trophy.
In a bizarre twist of fate, Graeme McDowell is the 110th U.S. Open Champion because of Tiger Woods and his Thanksgiving night fender-bender.
Hear me out on this……
As a result of the accident and all that followed, Woods pulledout, withdrew, choose not to play in his invitational, the Chevron World Challenge and Graeme McDowell was his last minute replacement
- McDowell’s world ranking the week of the Chevron… 55th
- McDowell’s world ranking the week after the Chevron… 38th (he finished solo second)
Over the next 13 tournaments McDowell missed a few cuts, had a few top 10 finishes and by the time the cut-off for the U.S. Open came around (May 25th), his slowly slipping world ranking was at 49 and just good enough; the top 50 in the world receive automatic exemptions into the Majors.
While McDowell may have snuck into the U.S. Open as the 49th best player in the world, McDowell was fresh off a victory at the Celtic Manor Wales Open; thus making him the most recent winner in the field.
As it turns out, this was his special sauce, “This time in Wales I felt like I was ready to use that victory for big things. Little did I know what was around the corner. I couldn’t imagine this week, but I felt ready for it, I really did. I felt calm and I felt confident this week.”
One of only a handful of players to not make double bogey all week, McDowell played well within himself channeling his disappointments from majors past, “I’ve played in plenty of tournaments where I made the mistakes. I feel like I’ve served my apprenticeship a few times. I’ve been in positions going into a weekend at majors and not done the job.”
Well on this week in June, the Irishman in a heather-gray cardigan was the only one who did.
My favorites photographs of the 110th U.S. Open Champion Graeme McDowell winning at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Checkout all of the action from the 110th U.S. Open at Pebble Beach:
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