McDowell sets his sights on US Tour

GOLF: The pull of the megabucks US Tour is set to grow even stronger for Graeme McDowell, who yesterday claimed his second European Tour title by capturing the Italian Open in a play-off against Thomas Levet, of France.

Indeed, the 24-year-old from Portrush, a graduate of the University of Alabama where he became the top collegiate player in the US, intends to compete in this year's US Tour qualifying school in an attempt to earn his card Stateside for 2005.

"It's always been my ambition to play on the US Tour, but it is also nice to have the option (of playing in Europe)," said McDowell, a former Walker Cup player, who claimed his first professional title just two months into his career when he won the Scandinavian Masters in 2002. It was only his fourth event as a professional.

In some ways, that "rookie" win came too quickly for McDowell, who admitted yesterday, "I sort of rested on my laurels a bit after winning in Sweden."

Last season he finished 96th on the European Tour money list, and a measure of his inconsistency was that he missed the cut in 11 of his 23 tournaments and had just one top-10 finish.

In 2000, as an amateur, McDowell had enjoyed a magical summer that saw him win the Irish amateur title, the Irish youths' title and the World Universities title, before going on to dominate the college game in America, where his stroke average of 69.6 bettered the previous bests established by Tiger Woods and Luke Donald.

But an indication of McDowell's intention to fulfil his undoubted promise was that he completely transformed his backroom team heading into this season, including restructuring his swing under the guidance of Butch Harmon.

Into his stable came a new coach (Claude Harmon, brother of Butch), a new caddie (Matt Harbour), a fitness guru (Adam Griffin) and a sports psychologist (Karl Morris) . . . and yesterday's win in the weather-affected tournament was the reward for McDowell's willingness to change to get the most out of his ability.

With four holes of his final round remaining when he returned to the course in Milan yesterday with 17 other players at 7.30am, McDowell immediately picked up a birdie on the par five 15th, hitting his approach dead, in recording a final round 65 to add to his successive 66s in the opening two rounds.

Levet also finished on the 19-under-par 197 mark, but, after the pair had shared the first three holes of sudden-death, including birdies on the third, the Frenchman hit his six-iron approach on the fourth tie hole (the 18th) into water guarding the green, and McDowell closed out his victory by finding the green with his approach and two-putting for his second career title.

McDowell's win earned him 200,000 and moved him from 49th to 10th position on the Volvo Order of Merit. It also moved him to 19th place on the European Points List for the Ryder Cup, and to 23rd on the World Points List.

Prior to the Italian Open, he was 240th in the official world rankings, but he is likely to move into the top 150 when the latest list is announced today.

"When I won in Sweden it felt like I was still an amateur," remarked McDowell. "I was just two months into my professional career and, looking back now, and feeling how much better my game is now, I was still playing like an amateur back then.

"Since then, I have had two years of working and grinding out here on tour and it is a different world. I feel like I've worked hard for this one, and it feels five times better than Sweden."

Playing in the Ryder Cup and the majors are the aspirations McDowell, a proven winner, possesses. "I really want to play in the majors," he insisted. He is entered to play in a qualifying round at Lake Nona for next month's US Open, which is being staged at Shinnecock Hills in New York.

"If I continue playing well in regular tournaments, then things like getting into the majors will look after themselves," he said.

Ultimately, playing on the US Tour is McDowell's aim, although the European Tour will remain his home for the time being.

This week, McDowell competes in the British Masters at the Forest of Arden, before he takes a week off, and then returns for a number of big-money tournaments, including the Deutsche Bank in Germany.