US Open 2014: Graeme McDowell keeps it real despite impressive start

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Raising the bar: Graeme McDowell showed a steady hand as he was one of only 15 players to go under par in the first round

Kevin Garside

13 June 2014

Only 15 players in red numbers and only one begins day two of the US Open in front of Graeme McDowell.

The 68 posted by McDowell yesterday morning looked like holding all day until Martin Kaymer burst out of the lengthening shadows here with three birdies over his closing five holes to establish a three-shot overnight lead on five under par.

According to McDowell the most a player can expect this week is 12 birdies. If so, Kaymer has used half his allocation already. Today McDowell is among the later starters, by which time the evidence suggests Pinehurst might well have hit back at Kaymer.

The German said beforehand he would have taken eight over for the tournament. Yesterday was one of few mistakes for him. Elsewhere the course took the heavy toll expected.

Luke Donald required a birdie at the last for a 77. Masters champion and much fancied Bubba Watson shot a bruising 76 and Lee Westwood limped off with a 75. Kaymer apart, those that prospered did so by stealth, with McDowell in the vanguard of that movement.

This being a World Cup year we should expect nothing less from the Ulsterman. You might recall how four years ago during football’s global showpiece in South Africa, McDowell became the first player from the United Kingdom to win the US Open for almost four decades.

With all eyes on Brazil, McDowell chose his moment to come again. “I spent the last few days just preparing myself mentally for the challenge, knowing that this golf course wasn’t going to give much and it was only going to take.

“It wasn’t my best ball-striking display but you don’t have to strike it amazing around here, you just have to position the ball correctly at all times. You aren’t going to make 20 birdies out here, it’s simple as that. I think the winner is going to make 10 to 12 birdies, maximum. That’s only three a round. You’re just not going to get a pat on the back very often in this golf course.”

Kaymer would not disagree, despite his late plunder. “It’s only the first round and usually the golf course only gets more difficult. So I think if you stay around level par, you can’t be that far away from winning the tournament.”

Kaymer is slowly rediscovering the form that took him to his first Major victory four years ago at the PGA Championship and subsequently to the top of the world rankings. His victory at the Players Championship last month vindicated the swing changes that precipitated the interim decline.

“Slump is a tough word. I wouldn’t call it a slump, I would call it a learning process, an adjustment. I stopped working on technique pretty much in the middle of the March, beginning of April. It was just about the right time for the whole season.”

As well as Kaymer (right) hit the ball, that is not necessarily the quality that will see him home. It is how he responds to the disappointment inherent around a course as tough as this.

None hit the ball more purely yesterday than McDowell’s playing partner Rory McIlory, yet he had to settle for a one-over 71. “I played beautifully from tee-to-green, really happy with that. I’m just going to work a little bit on my speed on the greens and if I can get that dialled in then I’m pretty confident going into the next three days,” McIlroy said. “It’s inevitable that you’re going to make some bogeys and make some mistakes out here. You have to limit those as much as you can.”

Sitting alongside him on one over par is Sheffield’s US Amateur champion Matt Fitzpatrick. Were it not for three bogeys in his closing five holes the 19-year-old would have finished in a share of second. As it was, he eclipsed playing partner and defending champion Justin Rose by a shot.

Not a bad way to start the week.

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