Graeme McDowell made amends for his disappointing second round finish and clawing his way up the leader board with and eagle and five birdies on day three of the Hero World Challenge.
A day after ‘rushing’ to complete his third round McDowell was a picture of concentration in shooting a four under par 68 and move from a share of 14th place in the 18-man field and into a then tie for fifth.
After a bogey at the second McDowell picked off three birdies in succession from the par five seventh hole to be two under par for his round.
The former US Open champ then dropped shots at 10 and 11 but birdied the par five 13th before the highlight of his round when he drove the green at the shortened par four 16th.
“We had 280-yards to the front of the green and I kind of cut my drive and it pitched perfectly there on the front edge and run up to about three feet from the pin, so that was nice,” he said.
McDowell jumped to four under for his round with a birdie at 17 and then at the last, where a day earlier his drive had plugged under a fairway bunker, the Northern Irishman was down the middle of the fairway with his drive ahead of finding the green and two-putting for a regulation par.
Graeme McDowell’s daughter Vale makes her tournament debut at the 2014 Hero World Challenge. (Mum Kristin holding Vale and close by is proud grand-dad, Kenny. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
“I came to grips with the greens a lot more today and that’s something I haven’t been able to do this week but then in saying that I am statistically not putting the greens well,” he said.
“When I look at my putting stats at Augusta and even in places like Dubai, and where the greens are usually fast, it is something I am definitely trying to improve on and weeks like this really help in getting practice on quick putting surfaces like here at Isleworth.
“But then I made a few good putts today to finish strong after getting a terrible break on 12 when my ball ricocheted off the back of the green and spun past the flag and into the water.
“The good thing now is that I have something to go out and play for. It’s been a great week with the greens pure and obviously a ‘home’ game for me.”
And ahead of his final stroke-play event of the year, and also his penultimate tournament before joining Gary Woodland in Thursday’s starting Shark Shootout at Naples in Florida, McDowell indicated a good reward tomorrow would be post a round of 66.
“A 66 would be a nice reward to end this week and put a nice line under my year,” he said.
“It’s been a good solid year and I have got a lot of things to work on and there’s been a lot of positives come out of my year. A lot of positives.”
