GMAC Open to Muirfield Challenge

Getty Images

Graeme McDowell watched from afar as the carnage unfolded at Muirfield in 2002, but still rates the Open Championship as his best bet for a second major title.

McDowell was just beginning his professional career that year and, having failed to qualify, was sent off to Germany to compete in a second-tier Challenge Tour event instead.

And even though that event also suffered from bad weather and was eventually reduced to 54 holes, McDowell's second place kickstarted his career in the paid ranks and two weeks later he won his firstEuropean Tour title in the Scandinavian Masters.

"I just remember that weather on the Saturday, the last time the Open was at Muirfield in 2002," recalled McDowell of the rain and wind that sent the Grand Slam-chasing Tiger Woods crashing to an 81 and Colin Montgomerie to an 84.

"I remember where I was, I was in Germany playing my first ever Challenge Tour event. I finished second to Iain Pyman that weekend. I remember sitting in the clubhouse after the round and watching the carnage unfold at Muirfield.

"I had been to Open qualifying and missed. Chubby (Chandler) was managing me at the time and he put me on a plane, kicking and screaming, to Germany to play a Challenge Tour event.

"Considering I had just played The Great North Open, Irish Open and European Open as my first three starts I was ready to go from a European Tour point of view, but in hindsight he did the best thing that he could possibly have done for me in getting me on the Challenge Tour and getting my confidence back up.

"I played another one the week after, finished top 20 then went to Sweden and won. So it was the precursor to something good happening."

Eight years later McDowell would win his first major title in the US Open at Pebble Beach and the 33-year-old is now targeting more glory at Muirfield after a strange season which has produced three wins and five missed cuts in his last eight events.

"I think the Open is the one I am most likely to win," the Northern Irishman added.

"I wouldn't put Augusta (venue for the US Masters) up there, that needs a bit of work. The US PGA is obviously an unknown quantity, sometimes they set it up like a US Open and sometimes they don't. So the Open, for sure.

"Which one would I love to win the most, if I could only win one more? Probably the Open over the Masters in a photo-finish. Probably just because of the home feel, the links and the history."

Related articles

• Woods Drawn With McDowell, Oosthuizen at Muirfield
• Woods drawn with McDowell, Oosthuizen at Muirfield
• Woods drawn with McDowell, Oosthuizen at Muirfield
• Woods drawn with McDowell, Oosthuizen at Muirfield
• Woods drawn with McDowell, Oosthuizen at Muirfield
• Open Championship: Tiger Woods drawn with Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen in opening rounds

Concentrate on Golf Rory - Nick Faldo

Sir Nick Faldo has told Rory McIlroy he has 20 years at the top to win as much as he can and should be concentrating solely on golf.

In the last six months the 24-year-old Northern Irishman, whose high-profile relationship with tennis player Caroline Wozniacki has also come in for some criticism, has changed equipment suppliers and management company.

He has not won in that time and since finishing eighth at the Players Championship in May he has missed the cut at the BMW PGA Championship, tied for 57th at Memorial, finished 41st at the US Open and missed the cut at the Irish Open.

After that last appearance he departed determined to discover the right driver which worked for him and now claims, after testing a tNike's London base, he has done just that. But although recently Faldo has criticised the Northern Irishman's decision to change his clubs it is his overall focus which is now the target.

"I actually think it's a lot going on in his mind," said the three-time Open champion, two of which were won at this week's venue Muirfield in 1987 and 1992. "You need 100 per cent concentration, off the golf course, practicing, as well.

"Most ideal I can think is to go to the club at nine in the morning, hit balls all day long, and leave at five. You have to do that. You have a 20-year window of opportunity as an athlete. Concentrate on golf, nothing else."

Faldo admits his chances of success this week are limited to making the weekend, which in itself will be a significant ask considering his last competitive round came at St Andrews in the 139th Open Championship in 2010 where he missed the cut on nine over. But he believes the current crop of younger professionals are the best prepared of any generation.

"I'm 56 on Thursday. About two months ago I was at my gym at home and I thought 'You're just strong enough to have a go. It might be the last chance I get to walk with fellow Open champions'.

"But when you see the test that they've prepared you start grand ideas of survival, of how close to the cut could I get? That would be impressive for a guy that hasn't hit a competitive shot for three years."

On the younger, fitter competitors he is up against Faldo added: "These kids, they've got it all now. They have this knowledge, it's not a guess any more - in our era we were still guessing. They all have the knowledge and understanding of the game."

Related articles

• Faldo: McIlroy should focus on golf
• Faldo can't resist the lure of Muirfield
• Rory McIlroy must 'concentrate on golf and nothing else' says Nick Faldo
• The Open 2013: Rory McIlroy has 'lost his focus', says Sir Nick Faldo
• Faldo wants 'to walk with fellow Open champions' again
• Nick Faldo can't resist another shot at Muirfield