Graeme McDowell tamed the Doral’s Blue Monster course for a second day running adding a five under par 67 to his opening round 66 and move to 11-under par in the WGC – Cadillac Championship in Miami.
It put McDowell into the clubhouse lead and then one shot clear of last year’s Ryder Cup rivals Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker who also signed for 67s to end at 10-under par.
World No. 2 Tiger Woods was the leader on the course having moved to 13-under par through 13 holes.
Graeme McDowell moves in touch of a 10th pro career victory after two rounds of the WGC – Cadillac Championship. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
Woods then finished at 13-under to be the second round leader and two clear of McDowell
McDowell’s first round was his equal lowest in 29 rounds of the championship but his opening 36-hole tally is a new low for the 2010 US Open champion.
The Northern Irishman’s previous best first two round total was four under par on route to finishing sixth in 2005.
Also McDowell put a new driver in the bag for this week and he’s ended the second day of the $US 8.75m event No. 1 in ‘Fairways in Regulation’ and hitting 23 of 28 fairways.
And McDowell, like most players in this year’s elite 65-player field, has used his new driver to again take full advantage of the benign conditions and as such has not dropped a shot over the two rounds of the $8.75m tournament.
“I’ve have positioned the ball well off the tee and these greens are very fast this week so you have to be able to control your irons well coming intot these greens,” said McDowell.
“And I’ve really done that and I’ve controlled my iron play well.
“I have chipped and I’ve putted when I’ve had to but I feel really, really good on these greens and they’re the purest I’ve seen in the many years I’ve been coming here.
“As well, with the benign positions so it’s given us a chance to attack some of these greens.”
McDowell arrived at the Donald Trump owned course looking not only to win for a first time in 2013 but also seeking to end a two-year Euroepan Tour winless drought since capturing the 2010 Andalucia Valderrama Masters.
