Graeme McDowell defends his US Open Championship title with a deep sense of pride this week as The European Tour heads into one of golf’s ‘Grand Slam’ events boasting all four reigning Major Champions for the first time.
McDowell will be joined by Louis Oosthuizen (Open Champion), Martin Kaymer (US PGA Champion), and Charl Schwartzel (Masters Champion) at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, along with Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, the World Number One and Two respectively, as part of the strongest European Tour challenge in the history of the US Open.
Last year it was Northern Irishman McDowell who prised opened the door to The European Tour’s finest year when he fulfilled a personal dream by capturing the US Open on a dramatic day at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
From that pivotal moment, The European Tour bandwagon gathered an unstoppable momentum with Oosthuizen, Kaymer and Schwartzel all benefitting from McDowell’s trail-blazing achievements.
McDowell carded a closing round 74 to finish on level par, a single stroke clear of Frenchman Grégory Havret, and become the first European in 40 years to win the US Open Championship, joining Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Tiger Woods as champions over the famous California links.
Now McDowell defends his title on the other side of America following a year of personal triumph, which included contributing the winning point in The Ryder Cup and being named joint European Tour Golfer of the Year with Kaymer, all of which was sparked by his maiden Major Championship win.
“When I read statements like: the first European in 40 years to win the US Open, the first Irishman ever to win the US Open; only the third Irishman to win a Major Championship, that hits me hard,” said McDowell, who plays in the first two rounds with Oosthuizen and reigning US amateur champion Peter Uihlein.
“It really helps me grab the reality of what I did. Pebble Beach really was tailor made for me in many ways. Is Congressional going to be the same way? Is it going to set up for me? We’ll see!
“I’m certainly no less equipped, that’s for sure. I’ve got the confidence now, and I’ve got the belief in myself that if I put myself in position at big events, I can go on and do it.”
Among the favourites alongside McDowell will be Englishman Donald, who has been in scintillating form so far in 2011.
Having already won two of the biggest events on The European Tour International Schedule this season, the WGC-Accenture World Match Play and the BMW PGA Championship, Donald starts a Major Championship for the first time as World Number One in the company of the second and third ranked players, Westwood and Kaymer.
Both he and compatriot Westwood will be looking to capture their maiden Major Championship as a total of 46 European Tour Members try to ensure that the Tour retains a stranglehold on golf’s four greatest individual prizes.
The 46 European Tour Members crossing the Atlantic this week for the second Major of the season include seven debutants: Nicolas Colsaerts, Andreas Hartø, Shane Lowry, Matteo Manassero, Alex Noren, Robert Rock and Marcel Siem.
Rock, the new BMW Italian Open champion, makes his first appearance in the US Open with his confidence sky high following his first Tour victory in 209 starts in Turin at the weekend.
He said: “I couldn’t ask for a better preparation for Congressional. My game is in excellent shape and the improvement in my putting was the key to finally winning. I’ve got a new grip, new stance and new stroke – altogether a new approach to putting really and it was the main difference in Italy.
It will be 18 year old Manassero’s debut in the US Open Championship and only his third Major Championship after making the cut on both of his other appearances, finishing tied 13th in The 2009 Open Championship and tied 36th at last year’s Masters Tournament, both times as an amateur.
The teenager joins Edoardo and Francesco Molinari in an all-Italian three-ball while the USGA have also brought together three Spanish conquistadors, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Sergio Garcia and Alvaro Quiros and a trio of Swedes in Henrik Stenson, Johan Edfors and Fredrik Jacobson.
The last time the US Open Championship visited Congressional Country Club was in 1997, when another two European Tour Members jousted for the title – South African Ernie Els eventually holding off the challenge of Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, who had set the event alight with a first round 65.
