BETHESDA, Md. — Now that he has returned the U.S. Open trophy he won at Pebble Beach last year, Graeme McDowell figures the pressure is off and he can get on with the rest of his life.
“It’s tough to look forward when all everyone wants to talk about is the past,” McDowell said yesterday. The Northern Ireland native was player of the year last year after winning at Pebble Beach and sinking the clinching putt for Europe at the Ryder Cup in Wales.
He admitted he had no regrets about enjoying the best season of his career, though his golf game eventually suffered from all the off-the-course commitments.
“Sometimes a run of momentum and adrenaline has to hit a brick wall and I guess I hit my brick wall,” said McDowell, who has yet to win a tournament this year. “I have no regrets about the last 12 months. I’ve enjoyed every second of it. Yeah, I’ve hit a rough patch here the last three months, but I’ve really felt my game coming around the last four or five weeks.”
McDowell said he feels like just another golfer trying to win the U.S. Open.
“I’m at level par Thursday morning, the same as everyone else,” he said. “I’m just one of the guys trying to win it.”
*
Rory McIlroy took a tour of Haiti with UNICEF last week and was moved by the experience.
“It gives you a completely different view on the world and the game that you play,” he said. “It just makes you feel so lucky that I’m able to just sit here and drink a bottle of water; just the normal things that everyone does that you take for granted.
“Haiti was a great experience for me and it was great to go down with UNICEF and see all the work that they’re doing with funding and helping build schools and maternity clinics and providing food and water for people down there.”
*
Someone asked Ernie Els what led to him becoming a member of Congressional.
“It’s easy,” he said. “All you have to do is win a U.S. Open.”
*
Luke Donald doesn’t mind being the No. 1 ranked player in the world, but would rather add a couple of major championships to his resume.
“Certainly being No. 1 is a great achievement,” he said, “but if you ask me if I would swap that for Phil [Mickelson‘s] record, sure. I would love to take his majors and the number of victories he’s had. But I’ll continue to feed off all the good things that have got me to No. 1, and hopefully I can add to my victories, too.”