Nice day at the beach

Days after his historic US Open win at Pebble Beach, the magnitude of Graeme McDowell’s achievement was still sinking in when he visited the Callaway European HQ in Chessington, Surrey

Published: 13 July, 2010

Just when we were waiting for one of the in-form English golfers to step up at Pebble Beach – and Paul Casey had us going for a short while – it was an Irishman, Graeme McDowell, who held his nerve through one of the most intense challenges golf can throw at a man. Pebble Beach and all the unforgiving treachery it could muster, in a US Open, with three of the finest golfers of this generation in determined pursuit – Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els – as well as Gregory Havret at his career best.

It may not have been pretty, but that is not to take anything away from the gutsy, brilliantly controlled performance of McDowell, and perhaps those observers concentrating on the English contingent in a major should get used to the glory being stolen by an Irishman. Padraig Harrington has done it, Rory McIlroy could do it any time soon, and we may yet not have seen the best of McDowell. But it does not matter, as McDowell’s success will resonate through the golf trade on both sides of the Irish border, and throughout the UK, if not Europe.

“I just tried to knuckle down and not worry about anyone else,” said McDowell at Callaway HQ, where he arrived straight from his flight from the United States. “I just stuck to my game-plan. I’ve been very calm for a while. I don’t know why. I wish I could bottle it up and keep it. It was the same in Wales where I felt relaxed and in control. I’ve been working with Pete Cowen for a few years now and I really felt my short game had to improve to have a chance to win. I’ve practised harder and it’s worked.”

The ramifications of winning the US Open for McDowell – of being the first European to do so since Tony Jacklin in 1970 – are extensive. First of all there is the winner’s cheque for $1.35 million, followed by a career-high World Ranking of 13th. McDowell has earned exemption into all of golf’s majors for the next five years, and US Open exemption for a decade, and he has cemented his place on the 2010 European Ryder Cup team. He can also look forward to receiving a commemorative gold belt buckle from Odyssey, and he is eligible to have his name printed on his Callaway Tour i series golf balls. Not to mention his sponsors Marquis Jet providing the golfer with his own jet to ease the demands on McDowell’s time in the days immediately following his triumph.

In the bag

What Graeme McDowell played and wore to win the

US Open:

Driver: Callaway FT-3 Driver (9.5°, Aldila Voodoo SVS6 shaft)

Fairway wood: Callaway X-Tour 4-wood (15°, Aldila RIP Beta 60 shaft)

Hybrids: Adams Idea Pro (17°, Aldila NVS 85 shaft & 21°, Aldila VooDoo XVS8 shaft)

Irons: Callaway X-Forged (4-9, Project X 6.5 Flighted Taper shafts)

Wedges: Callaway X-Forged vintage (48°, 52° & 58°, Project X 6.5 Flighted Taper shafts)

Putter: Odyssey White Hot No. 7

Ball: Callaway Tour ix

Clothes: Louis Copeland & Sons (Dublin)

Shoes: Stuburt DCC (Softspikes Black Widow cleats)