McDowell: We'll miss Tiger
Graeme McDowell has revealed his disappointment at missing out on the chance to test himself against Tiger Woods at the Open. The Northern Ireland star, who won the Scottish Open last Sunday, says the absence of the world number one is a big miss for the tournament.
The 14-time major champion will be forced to watch from home after undergoing knee surgery following his triumph at last month's US Open.
"We are disappointed he is not going to be there obviously. He's the marquee man," McDowell told Sky Sports.
"People come to watch Tiger Woods and we're very lucky to be playing golf in an era where Tiger Woods is the greatest player that's ever touched a golf club.
"He boosts tournaments all around the world when he plays and he's going to be a massive loss to Birkdale next week.
"On the positive side, obviously we don't have to beat him. He's pretty tough to beat when it comes to major championships. When I was leading at Hoylake, I shot one over par in the second round on Friday morning and Tiger shot 65 and just left me in a cloud of dust and that was the end of my Open.
"It's a mixture of disappointment that he's not going to be there because he adds a lot to the atmosphere of the tournament in general, but at the same time it blasts the field wide open, which is good for us."
McDowell, 28, heads into the Open full of confidence after finishing third at the European Open before winning at Loch Lomond and he is looking for more success at Royal Birkdale this week.
"I've given myself a great run these last three weeks," he added. "I've put some (Ryder Cup) points on the board, which is what I set out to do. I really targeted this run of five events. Hopefully I've left something in the tank.
"I really didn't have too much planned the next few days anyway as far as practise and preparation. I played the golf course already and I was really going to go with a chilled-out approach."
2 Comments
Add a comment
Posted by Pamela – 14 Jul 2008, 11:15 PM
Some people like their competition to be challenging so perhaps he found Tiger Woods to be challenging for him and a worthy victory if he were to win. McDowell is awesome to be like that
Posted by KaysMoney – 14 Jul 2008, 5:44 PM
What a great attitude! You know someone really loves their game when they are disappointed that the best competitor will not be there to compete against! His chances of winning are greater, yet he expresses regret!