Greame McDowell
Sunday, January 29th, 2012 11:47:30 by Kashif Khan
Graeme McDowell was born on 30th July 1979 in Portrush, Northern Ireland. McDowell starting playing golf around 8 or 9 years old under the coaching of his uncle Uel Loughery at the Rathmore Golf Club.
After finished school, McDowell attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1998 to 2002. While attending college, McDowell one the Haskins Award, which is given to the most outstanding collegiate golfer of United States.
After a successful run at collegiate golf McDowell decided to turn professional in 2002 and right away tasted success at the Volvo Scandinavian Masters. McDowell had to wait a little less than 2 years before he claimed his second victory at the telecom Italia Open and finished sixth on the European Tour’s Order of Merit.
In 2005 McDowell decided to divide his time between the European and PGA Tours, as he was not yet a full member of the PGA, he used to get invitations to play in the United States because of his exceptional showing in the rankings of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR).
In 2009 McDowell played a brilliant shot, one of his career’s best; he had a sublime seven iron from 179 yards to within a foots range of the cup on the third extra hole, giving him the win at the Inaugural Ballantine’s Championship. He kept his form and used it to win the Barclays Scottish Open.
The biggest highlight of his career came in 2010 by winning the US Open at pebble beach and became the first Northern Irishman to achieve the accolade. The win moved him to number 13 in the OWGR a career high at that point. McDowell did not leave anything in celebrations calling family and friends to his party.
The Daily Telegraph’s Mark Reason said about McDowell’s win “The previous three tournaments in the United States have been won by Lee Westwood, Justin Rose [both English] and now McDowell. It’s an unprecedented surge and America must feel like it is being invaded”.
The win provided McDowell some fame in the United States as well, when he got bookings for American TV shows, such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and a cameo role in the popular TV show Entourage.
The year became even more special for McDowell when he drove his European team to win the Ryder Cup with his 5 foot Putt that was conceded to give victory to Europe.
More wins followed at the Race to Dubai by winning Andalucía Valderrama Masters and finished the year with a win at the Chevron World Challenge beating Tiger Woods.
McDowell has received the European Golfer of the year award in 2010; he has been given a honorary doctorate (D.Sc.) from the University of Ulster for his services to golf. In addition to that he was also appointed the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2011 New Year Honours for services to golf.
McDowell aka G-Mac at 32 still has a lot to give to the game, he is an asset to the ever growing strength of the English players in the OWGR. It is a delight to watch G-Mac at play and we hope to keep on watching him achieve new heights and personal goals along the way.
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Posted by Kashif Khan
on Jan 29 2012. Filed under Sports, World.
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