McDowell savouring the good vibes

Graeme McDowell's tee-shot on the 18th, a dogleg par four of 450 yards to an elevated and undulating green, hooked dangerously left. The hole is called "Revelations", and, as the player watched from the tee as his ball lurched towards heavy rough and tall trees, it was with a sense of foreboding. Was all his good work to be unravelled?

The answer was no, it wasn't. But only because the McDowell brandishing his collection of TaylorMade clubs these days is a far more positive individual from the one who couldn't make a cut for love nor money earlier this season.

Instead of running up a potentially high number on this classic finishing hole, McDowell instead conjured up a saving par that demonstrated all that is good with his game. It allowed him to sign for a 71, one-over, that put him into the thick of the hunt. Good vibes.

In a way, McDowell's fightback was symptomatic of how he has managed to transform his season. Three-over-par at the turn, the 26-year-old Ulsterman proceeded to cover the back nine in 33, picking up birdies on the 15th, where he hit a two-iron approach to five feet, and the 16th, where his a seven-iron approach left him with a tap-in.

But the par save on the 18th was what typified his fighting spirit.

There were shades of Seve Ballesteros, seeing a shot nobody else could. When a tee-shot is so wayward as McDowell's was on the 18th, you need a bit of luck. He got it when the ball finished on trampled rough, where spectators had been walking. Still, it seemed all he could do was play sideways back towards the fairway, leaving a very long approach to one of the most severe greens on the course.

McDowell didn't take the easier option, instead using his gap wedge to hit his second shot over the towering trees. He executed it brilliantly, finishing 25 yards short of the green from where he played a bump-and-run more reminiscent of Royal Portrush where he grew up learning the game.

"That chip on the last just came out perfect. I could hit 10 balls and probably only get one to end up like that. It wasn't a shot I learned over this side of the Atlantic, it is certainly one I've picked up at home," he remarked.

All in all, it was an encouraging start to the US Open for McDowell, a contrast to how he felt on his debut at Pinehurst a year ago. "You know, this is the most relaxed I've ever felt coming into a major. Pinehurst last year just scared the hell out of me. Augusta last year scared the hell out of me.

"For some reason this week, I don't feel scared. I'm trying to be positive, to hit positive shots on the greens. I really like the golf course. It is very fair. It fits my eye well."

Certainly, he is a transformed player who is full of confidence. There's no comparison with earlier in the year, when he missed six successive strokeplay cuts before returning to coach Claude Harmon for a fix.

"I just swung my golf club so badly at the start of the year, and I just got so down in the dumps and so frustrated with myself. I am back. I'm swinging the club really good now. There's nothing but positives the last three months. Yes, I've had a couple of bad weekends where I haven't finished off the job. But I am playing really lovely now, and it is a great time of the year to be playing really well. The start of the season seems a very long time ago now.

"This is the ultimate test of golf. If I come out the other end of this week a better golfer, who cares what happens? This is just the toughest set up in golf and you learn so much from these weeks."

Selected Tee-times

US unless stated, all times Irish

STARTING AT FIRST

12.22 P Casey (Eng), M Kuchar, G Storm (Eng) 12.33 F Funk, C Pavin, A Doyle 1.06 C Howell, S Garcia (Spn), S Appleby (Aus) 1.17 E Els (Rsa), C DiMarco, KJ Choi (Kor) 1.28 MA Jimenez (Spn), K Perry, B Bryant 5.41 S Micheel, K Ferrie (Eng), T Purdy 6.03 D Dougherty, B Mayfair, N O'Hern (Aus) 6.14 S Verplank, I Poulter (Eng), L Glover 6.25 T Clark (Rsa), P Mickelson, T Bjorn (Den) 6.36 Paul McGinley (Irl), R Sabbatini (Rsa), R Beem 6.47 L Donald (Eng), T Immelman (Rsa), Z Johnson 6.58 S Cink, R Goosen (Rsa), Padraig Harrington (Irl).

STARTING AT 10th

12.33 J Sindelar, J Haas, T Lehman 12.55 E Molinari (Ita), T Woods, M Campbell (Nzl) 1.17 Darren Clarke (NIrl), P Jacobsen, S Ames (Can) 1.39 G Ogilvy (Aus), D Howell (Eng), B Van Pelt 5.30 C Nallen, A Svoboda, JJ Henry 5.52 DJ Trahan, N Dougherty (Eng), Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 6.03 V Singh (Fij), S Katayama (Jpn), D Toms 6.14 J Furyk, A Scott (Aus), C Campbell 6.36 F Couples, JM Olazabal (Spa), M Weir (Can) 6.47 J Leonard, D Love, N Price (Zim) 6.58 D Duval, C Montgomerie (Sco), J Cook 7.09 R Pampling (Aus), J Sluman, H Stenson (Swe).