Graeme

McDowell

The 42-year-old McDowell shots rounds of 70-66 at Lakewood Country Club and Royal Oaks Country Club to finish at 6-under 136 and just missed out on a six-man playoff for the final two spots, which went to Alabama product Davis Shore and Canadian Roger Sloan. Canada’s Adam Hadwin finished the playoff as first alternate, with Austin Cook as second alternate. Also failing to qualify was Matt Kuchar (72-67), who is poised to miss the U.S. Open for the first time in 15 years, Aaron Baddeley, Rory Sabbatini and James Hahn. Thirteen players qualified in Texas for The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., including co-medalists Kurt Kitayama, Matthew NeSmith, Japan’s Jinichiro Kozuma and Sean Crocker. One amateur advanced from the Dallas final: University of Texas junior Travis Vick (68-65), who was a semifinalist at last year’s U.S. Amateur at Oakmont.

The Northern Irishman is a past champ at Harbour Town Golf Links but has finished outside of the top 20 in each of his other 11 visits. Today’s 66 matches his personal best at the course (R1/2015 and T2/2020). High highlights today included a 16'1" par save at the 14th, a near hole out from 128 yards at the 16th, a 15'4" birdie from the fringe at the following hole, and a 20'5" birdie bomb at the par-5 fifth. After the round, he talked about a muscle strain that hit him at the Corales where he faded to a T50 finish. He missed the cut in his next start at the Valero Texas Open. “I tried to play San Antonio. I probably shouldn’t have traveled in hindsight. Watched plenty of Masters last week, got plenty of rest. Thankfully, I’ve been able to pick the game up where I left off, where I felt like I was really swinging the club well, controlling my ball flight, and really hitting a lot of good shots.”

McDowell has been close to finding his name on the first page of the leaderboard on a couple of occasions this season. Finishing T-12 in Bermuda this past fall, McDowell more recently captured a T-13 result at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. McDowell looked impressive at Bay Hill where he posted +4.56 Strokes Gained: Approach and +3.20 SG: Putting, two skillsets which are sure to be highlighted this week at Harbour Town. Since his victory nearly a decade ago, McDowell has made his way through to the weekend 5-of-8 times, but is held without a top-20 finish.

The Northern Irishman remained steady from tee-to-green today. On the week he ranks T11 in fairways hit (24-of-28) and 2nd in GIR Percentage (78%). The winds calmed down a bit on his way into the clubhouse and he took advantage with four birdies in his last five holes. “Key finish to get my momentum back moving into the weekend, continuing to feel very comfortable, like the way the greens are setting up, driving it really well and just got to keep doing more of the same really.” McDowell has now been T7 or better after eight of his 14 rounds played at the Corales. He won the 2019 edition and finished T4 in his last appearance (2021).

McDowell won the 2019 Corales and finished T4 in his last visit. Today’s 68 will go in the books as his sixth career sub-70 round in 13 tries at Corales Golf Course. Precision off the tee was the name of the game as he missed just one fairway (T2) today on his way toward 13 GIR (T3). “I enjoy the Paspalum, I enjoy chipping here and I’m seeing the greens pretty well. So it was very difficult conditions today, you really had to control your ball, but very, very pleased with that effort to get us going and just got to do it three more days hopefully.” McDowell has now been T18 or better after round one in four of his last five starts.

The Mastercard ambassador, in on a sponsor exemption, rebounds from a 76 yesterday (3 birdies, 4 bogeys, 1 triple) with a sterling five-birdie two-bogey showing today, good for a 5.065 SG: Total. He’ll be in the fourth-to-last pairing on Sunday with fellow Ulsterman Rory McIlroy, vying for his fifth TOUR title in 265 events, first since the opposite-field Corales in 2019 50 starts ago (on conditional status) as the 54-hole leader by one. Today, the long-time Central Florida resident continued his stellar play around-the-green, now 2nd-ranked in SG: Around with a cumulative 3.734, but also got his approach game back on track, gaining 3.660. Two of his 12 career podiums on TOUR came here, finishing runner-up on debut in 2005 and again in 2012.

Beginning on 10 tee, the Mastercard ambassador and long-time Central Florida (Lake Nona) resident missed a par-saver from 7'10" at his final hole (par-4 ninth) but matches his best start at the API (x4). This is his 15th appearance, 14th consecutive, and fourth in his last five where he needed a sponsor exemption to get in. The 42-year-old’s been a runner-up twice at Bay Hill, most recently a solo 2nd in 2013, five shy of champion Tiger Woods, while his most recent of three top 10s came eight tries ago in 2014 (T10), where he also opened with 68 (68-77-67-70). Today, he outpaced two squares with six circles, three from between eight and 20 feet, posting 0.572 SG: Off-the-Tee, 0.936 SG: Approach, 0.183 SG: Around, and 2.091 SG: Putting. The Ulsterman, who’s currently trailing countryman and the leader on the course Rory McIlroy by three, checked in off six missed cuts in his last seven worldwide starts, most recently a MC by two at the WM Phoenix Open three weeks ago (68-74). See link below to post-round interview.

Pairing up with Corey Conners for the first time, McDowell has come close to claiming the QBE Shootout before. Finishing runner-up in 2018 with Emiliano Grillo and in 2017 with Shane Lowry, another change of partner may be what the Northern Irishman needs to cross the finish line. Missing three cuts in a row to end his swing season, McDowell will need his putter to cooperate as it has hindered his efforts as of late and typically spells trouble for his Canadian counterpart as well.

The 29-year-old Canadian has made one previous appearance at Tiburon Golf Course in Naples, Fla., pairing with Andrew Putnam in the 2020 event where they finished T-6. Conners will be McDowell’s seventh different partner in the Shootout, where he’s finished second three times in nine appearances. Conners arrives in Tiberon off a T-22 in his last start the RSM Classic, where he opened with an 8-under 62 (two strokes behind first-round leader Sebastian Munoz’s 60) before fading with rounds of 71-72-67. He’s three-for-three to start the new season, with his best finish this fall coming at the Sanderson Farms Championship where he was T-17. Last season. Conners was T-22 on the FedExCup standings and reached the Tour Championship for the second time. He made 25 cuts in 29 starts with eight top 10s and 19 top 25s, including a T-8 at the 2021 Masters and T-10 in the November edition. He finished the season seventh on Tour in driving accuracy and seventh in total birdies.

The 42-year-old’s most recent two (of four) TOUR titles came out of the U.S. on coastal tracks: the 2019 opposite-field Corales in the Dominican Republic as the 54-hole leader by one; and the 2016 OHL Classic at Mayakoba, where he came from three back with 5-under 66 before prevailing in a 3-man playoff. Additionally, his most recent top 10s came at last season’s opposite-field Corales in March (T4), and a T4 at the 2020 Sony Open in Hawaii. Thru 54 holes, the Lake Nona, Florida, resident has posted rounds of 70-67-67, totaled 15 birdies against six bogeys, five versus one today, and ranks T3 in driving accuracy at 76.19 percent (32/42) and T8 in greens in regulation at 74.07 percent (40/54). He’ll play out of the fourth-to-last threesome in R4 with fellow first-timers Garrick Higgo and Dylan Wu.