Graeme McDowell insists he is focused on claiming his place at The Open at Carnoustie after suggesting he may skip next week’s Scottish Open.
The 38-year-old finished level par for the week at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open on Sunday following an eventful lead up to the event which saw him lose his golf clubs in transit.
But McDowell cited his declaration after round three as a ‘knee jerk’ reaction and reiterated his determination to secure a late exemption for the Major in Carnoustie.
“I think with everything I’ve been through this week with lost bags and missing open qualifying – it was a little bit of a knee jerk thought when I came off yesterday,” McDowell said.
“It would be silly of me to have come this far these last few months and to have played as much golf as I have to not go that extra mile and play next week.
“I was a little frustrated when I came off the round yesterday. I missed a short one on nine and hit a bad drive on 11 and my brain was starting to conjure up all kinds of weird and wonderful suggestions as the beautiful game of golf can do from time to time.
“And it ended up with a fairly rash decision that I may not play next week. But with my history in the Scottish Open - I played well at Gullane last time I was there – and like I say, it’s been a long road so I may as well finish this last mile and see if I can get myself to Carnoustie.”
Asked whether losing his golf clubs had a significant impact on his overall performance, McDowell insisted the incident did not affect him.
“It didn’t have any impact on my performance this week,” McDowell said.
“It just made it a long week mentally. Monday and Tuesday were kind of a write-off both mentally and physically but I can’t have any excuses.
“It didn’t impact my performance. I played great on Wednesday morning and I was raring to go Thursday and to be honest with you, my ball striking was decent.
“It took me a little while to figure out this golf course from the tee because we did see a few switches of wind direction during the week. But I hit it good this weekend. I hit a lot of quality irons.
“The putter eluded me a little this week but I can easily sort that out for next week.”
James Hopper
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