Graeme McDowell kick starts a new season determined to shake off the shackles of a frustrating 2011.
McDowell has spent the past five week’s splitting his time between 10 days at home with his family over the Christmas festive season and at his residence in Florida.
But a bigger celebration for the former U.S. Open champion would be ending a now 15-month victory drought.
“I am a tad rusty having four to five weeks off as I haven’t hit a huge amount of balls so I am looking forward to getting a scorecard in my pocket and gauging where I am at this week,” he said.
Graeme McDowell looking to end an 11-month winless drought.
“Also I would like this year to get back to being consistently giving myself chances week in and week out.
“I want to shake off the frustrations of 2011 and get back to playing the way I know I can, and competing in the Majors.
“That is the target I am setting myself this year. I missed the cut in three of the four Majors last year and that’s not good enough, so I am looking to get my consistency levels back.
“So if there is a headline in the newspapers I want to see this year it’s ‘G Mac wins a second Major’ or maybe just simply ‘G Mac is back’.
High on McDowell’s wish list this year is boarding September’s flight to Chicago as a member of Jose Maria Olazabal’s European Ryder Cup team.
There was a moment on the Abu Dhabi range yesterday (WED) when McDowell bumped into the Spaniard who returned to form in finishing sixth last week in South Africa.
“With the way Jose Maria played in South Africa last week I asked him do we have a backup captain if he was going to make a run to qualify for the team?,” McDowell joked.
“No, Jose is going to be a magnificent captain and I desperately want to make that team.
“So the Ryder Cup is very much a part of my thinking right now and it’s my big goal for the year to be part of that team.
“It’s going to be a hard team to get on but I feel if I can make the Ryder Cup come September I will know I have had a good season.
“So it’s definitely part of my thinking and part of my strategy for the year. I am going to be motivating myself out on the golf course and thoughts of making the Ryder Cup team will be my motivation.”
