Graeme McDowell continued his French Open love affair and declaring he would delight in handing Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjorn a ‘positive problem in returning to Versailles later this year..
‘G Mac’ grabbed seven birdies in a three-under par 68 to be sharing second place with England’s Andy Sullivan and with the duo a shot behind Welshman Bradley Dredge on the Le National course.
McDowell, starting from the 10th, was three-under early in his round and after a bogey and birdie at his seventh and eighth holes the 2013 and 2014 French Open winner played the back nine in level par thanks to three birdies and just as many bogeys.
He arrived in France in the first of two trips this year with the second in late September as one of the European Team’s vice-captains.
Graame McDowell on day one 2018 French Open. (Photo @europeantour)
But McDowell’s made no secret that he is determined to hand Captain Thomas Bjorn a headache and qualify automatically for the side.
And while currently ranked a lowly 39th on the European Team ‘World’ points table, a win this week along with strong showings in the Irish, Scottish and The Open, could see Bjorn reaching for the Advil’s.
“There’s a big run of tournaments coming up and it’s very doable,” said McDowell.
“I’m playing better than I was this time two years ago. I’d love to give Thomas a problem, a positive problem. It’s certainly not reducing my effort level in any shape or form,” he said to GolfWeek.
But the four-time Ryder Cup star, and the ‘winning putt’ hero in 2010 at Celtic Manor, spoke further about his level of comfort in tackling Le National
“Obviously I would love to post a big finish this week and try to get myself back on the edge of that (Ryder Cup) radar,” he said.
“It’s going to take some golf for me over the summer to be back on the radar, but if I could be on the edge of the radar somewhere, that would be nice. I still have an ambition to play on the team
“One of the important things of this golf course is something that Captain Björn, we have been talking about, it’s just a level of comfort that you have to have on this golf course because it is a super intimidating track.
“You stand on the tee-boxes and all you can see is high rough and you have to be comfortable about where you’re positioning the ball off these tees. Having been coming here for years and having some success here, I do stand on some of these tee-boxes and feel a level of comfort.
“And having come back to Europe and getting the Vice Captaincy and weight of the Ryder Cup being taken off my shoulders, I can come back here and free-wheel.
“It feels nice and I get the old feelings back that helped me become a Top 100 player in the world, helped me be a Top-50 player in the world and prepared me to win a Major Championship.
“This is kind of where I grew up and this is where I feel most comfortable and it’s nice to come back and enjoy playing good golf.”
