Graeme McDowell is staring a fortnight on the Lake Nona practice range ahead of teeing up in his next event – the June 16th staring US Open at Oakmont.
That was the scenario staring at McDowell after rounds of 69, 73, 73 and 72 that handed him a share of 26th place at one under par in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
England’s Chris Wood earned a three-year exemption into this year’s Open Championship winning by a shot with a 69 for an eight under par tally.
Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg, who had beaten double Major winning Martin Kaymer in a play-off to capture last year’s Italian Open, was second shooting a 65, and a shot clear of Masters champion, Danny Willett (71) who was third at seven under par.
G Mac reckons he drove it like a ‘Muppett’ at the BMW PGA.
Overnight leader Aussie Scott Hend, who threatened to punch a couple of drunken yobs during Saturday’s third day, crashed off the ‘Burma Road’ course shooting a six-over par 78 for a three under par tally and a tie for 15th.
A check of McDowell’s stats disclosed he hit 34 of 56 fairways over the four days, an average of around nine of 14 each round.
“I drove it like a muppet and it’s the worse I have driven the ball this year, by far,” he said.
“This golf course does that to a little bit as it doesn’t give you a lot of opportunities to drive the fairway over the front nine and then on the back nine, the wind was into your face, so this is a quiet, narrow little golf course.
“But I just drove it awful and conservatively speaking I gave away six or seven shots with the driver and that’s the strength of my game, so very disappointed from that point of view.
“So these next two weeks is now about focussing my attention on Oakmont.
In that regard, McDowell has still not ruled out contesting the June 9th commencing FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis and a TPC Southwind course he enjoys but is ill at ease in the stifling heat that is always a feature of the PGA Tour event.
Keeping McDowell at home in Florida is the fact his wife, Kirstin is ‘heavily’ pregnant with the couple’s second child, a boy and due in August.
“Getting back to driving the ball well and also getting the fade back into my irons is probably the two areas of my game I do need to work on but generally the game is not in a bad shape,” he said.
“I am striking the irons lovely while the short-game is in good shape, and I feel good on greens even though I didn’t have much success on them here at Wentworth.
“So apart from the two weekend rounds at the K. Club, it’s actually been a solid week in striking the ball and of hanging in, and hittin’ a lot of good shots.
“So take those two rounds of play at the Irish Open and on top of my eighth at the Players, I have to be pretty happy with my three week’s work.
“It’s just a little disappointing not to have done a little better here at Wentworth as the leaders had always been within touching distance, and I had not have thrown all those shots away off the tee then you’re in there in contention.”
And McDowell’s happy to learn that next week the new Chinese owners of Wentworth will completely dig up the West Course and get back to somewhere near the original 1926 Harry Colt design before Ernie Els ‘modernised’ it in 2006 and then 2009.
The full Muppett crew.
“Harry Colt also designed Royal Portrush, so you could say I might like what they are planning here,” he said.
“Listen, this is such a special event. You only have to look at how many people come here.
“It’s class, just let’s get the course right, and get the big players back here and get the Americans over. Let’s turn this into the Players of Europe.
“I think they are really on the cusp of it. Just a few things if they get right this tournament is there.
“It’s such a well-supported tournament at a lot of levels so get the course right, get the greens right, and consider staging it a little later in the year.”
