Mighty Mac: Graeme McDowell

After his first tournament win in nearly three years, it seems fitting that Graeme McDowell should be the subject of this week’s Mighty Mac.

Had Graeme McDowell been told at the start of the month that he would win a tournament in April, then he would have been forgiven for dreaming of a triumphant 18th hole at Augusta, of green jackets and of the Butler cabin.

Although he didn’t end up claiming the Masters, however, his victory at the RBC Heritage tournament in South Carolina was a very significant one nonetheless.

Hard as it might be to believe for someone who has been in the upper echelons of golf for some time now, it was G-Mac’s first victory on the US Tour since June 2010, when he famously clinched the US Open at Pebble Beach.

As he did last night, McDowell ended a pretty long drought with his maiden major victory, becoming the first European to win that event in 40 years and the first Northern Irishman to ever win it in what was an incredible year for the Portrush native, who also sank the winning putt at Celtic Manor to reclaim the Ryder Cup for Europe after defeat in Valhalla in 2008.

If that wasn’t good enough, McDowell also won the Andalucia Masters in Valderrama, finished second behind Martin Kaymer in the Race to Dubai standings, shared the European Tour Golfer of the Year award with his German contemporary and in December of that year, went toe to toe with Tiger in a play-off in Tiger’s own tournament, the Chevron World Golf Challenge, and came out on the right side.

Unsurprisingly, McDowell hasn’t quite reached the highs of his annus mirabilis in 2010 but he certainly hasn’t dropped off the radar either and has been a regular in the top ten in the world rankings, while going mighty close to winning the US Open again last year (he was tied for second) and putting in a very decent performance at last year’s British Open (tied for fifth).

Punching above his weight?

McDowell’s success is even more impressive because you could argue that he is not quite as naturally talented as contemporaries from this part of the world like Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington.

McDowell is very talented of course, but he possibly doesn’t have the range of shots in his locker that the likes of McIlroy do – something he’s freely admitted in the past – but he is a remarkably gritty competitor, makes up shots where he often has no right to and is very accomplished on the greens.

It is those qualities that have made him such an asset to the European Ryder Cup team in recent years and that putt at Celtic Manor in 2010 couldn’t have fallen to a better person; you just knew he was going to make it.

Apart from his success on the golf course, McDowell comes across as a very likeable chap, he’s very popular on tour and fair dues to him, he’s bagged a very attractive missus for himself too.

Now if he could only sort out that horrendous transatlantic accent…

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