With the season’s third major championship looming this week at Royal Birkdale, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell (Classics Dry Premiere style #50603) fired a final round 3-under 68 Sunday to win The Barclays Scottish Open by two shots at Loch Lomond Golf Club. The win, McDowell’s second on The European Tour this season after a victory at the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea in March, lifted the 28 year old from tenth to sixth in the standings for The Ryder Cup. More importantly, he demonstrated steady nerves down the stretch as he rolled in three consecutive birdies on the back nine to pull away from a world-class field of players, including three of the top six in the World Golf Rankings, who had come to Loch Lomond to tune up for this week’s Open Championship.
“This is just unbelievable,” McDowell said. “It really was a tough weekend’s golf with such a stacked field. It’s a massive relief. It’s one of the toughest finishes in European golf and I don’t think I’ve ever shook as much as I was coming down the stretch.
“My dad first put a club in my hand aged seven and he’s been with me for 20 years, through thick and thin. He just retired last Friday. This is my retirement present to him. He’s an emotional man and I’m sure there’ll be a few tears tonight.”
