Graeme McDowell has banked his first regular PGA Tour victory with a play-off success in the RBC Heritage Classic at Hilton Head in South Carolina.
McDowell and fellow US Open champion, Webb Simpson ended regulation play tied at nine under par and with the Northern Irishman winning with a par at the first extra hole – the par four, 18th.
G Mac is back with victory in the RBC Heritage. (Photo – www.pgatour.com)
McDowell had two-putted from the front of the green for par and was virtually headed back to the tee when there was a collective gasp of disbelief from the crowd when Simpson missed a six-footer for his par.
The win is also McDowell’s 10th pro career success and a first since capturing his second Chevron World Challenge late last year.
McDowell jumped 10 places to World No. 8 was playing in the event sponsored his own sponsor RBC and posted a final round 69 but let slip victory when he made a mess of the last in taking bogey in a round of 69 and with Webb, currentlyranked No. 20, two putting from 20-feet for par in his score of 71.
McDowell earned a first prize cheque of $1.026m and a week after the dissapointment of missing the halfway cut in the Masters.
The three-time Ryder Cup star, who now has a play-off record of three wins and one loss worldwide, looked headed for a play-off but then Webb missed his par putt from short distance to hand McDowell the title.
McDowell’s been at the center of some of golf’s biggest moments, from his rousing triumph at Pebble Beach in 2010 to capturing the winning point for Europe in that year’s Ryder Cup matches. He has six European tour victories, too, but he hadn’t triumphed in the weekly grind of the world’s top tour.
“This game kicks you more often than it gives you a pat on the back,” McDowell said. “It’s hard to win.”
Not on this day for McDowell, who pushed forward on wind-blown Harbour Town Golf Links when his rivals were moving backward, unnerved by the 20 to 30 mph winds that rattled the course.
He rallied from four strokes down when the day began to take a one-shot lead into the 72nd hole. Then after he made his only bogey of the round to fall into tie with Simpson, he two-putted from about 15 feet to make a par on the extra hole that Simpson couldn’t match.
“I guess the weather was what the doctor ordered. I needed that to get close to the leaders,” said McDowell.
Former World No. 1 Luke Donald shot a 69 to tie for third with American Kevin Streelman, who had a 72 while Jerry Kelly rounded out the top five after his even-par 71.
Charley Hoffman, the 54-hole leader, ballooned to a 77 and fell into a tie for sixth with Russell Henley (69) and Chris Stroud (70).
McDowell patted Simpson on the back after the playoff miss and smiled widely as the boats in Calibogue Sound tooted their horns and whistles. Neither McDowell nor Simpson made the cut a week ago at the Masters, yet bounced back in a big way at Harbour Town.
McDowell acknowledged he was frustrated and disappointed after missing the weekend at Augusta National by a shot. If he had made the cut, McDowell wondered if he’d have had the motivation to break through at Harbour Town.
“It’s funny the way things happen,” he said.
“I wouldn’t swap this for a top 10 last week.”
McDowell arrived at Hilton Head with a poor track record without a finish inside the top 60 in three visits in 2005, ’06 and ’11.
However he’s made a mockery of that statistic with victory of his fellow US Open winner.
“This is a golf course which I’ve always enjoyed,” said McDowell, who is one of tournament title sponsor RBC’s sponsored players. “I didn’t play here last year and kind of regretted it, so here we are this year. It is a golf course that sets up well for me. You don’t have to move it very far off the tee, but you have to position it really well. And you have to play patient golf, which suits my type of play. I’m reasonably straight and a good iron player.
It is also McDowell’s second success since announcing his engagement late last year while he is the first Irish-born player to win anywhere in the world in 2o13.
And after US-born players captured the opening 14 tournaments on the 2013 PGA Tour schedule, international players have now won the past three with Scotland’s Martin Laird captured the Valero Texas Open and Australia’s Adam Scott was fitted last Sunday with the Augusta National green jacket.
