McDowell finishes third but still proves European Ryder Cup form
Published:It wasn’t the same class of field that tried to defy Graeme McDowell his US Open win, but the Ulsterman will nevertheless be happy with his third place finish at the Austrian Open.
It brings to an end the run of consecutive wins for the European Ryder Cup team members, but four solid rounds from McDowell means he can head into his week of recovery before the Ryder Cup starts in confident form.
His third place finish earned McDowell €38,750 and that puts him and Martin Kaymer over the €2m mark in the Race to Dubai.
With eight tournaments left to play before the season finale in Dubai, Kaymer is currently 2/1 favourite to win the Race to Dubai, but with McDowell just €459,733 behind Kaymer, the 7/1 available for McDowell to win the race seems generous.
Europe are solid 8/13 favourites in the Ryder Cup betting and it’s easy to see why when they can boast two of this year’s major winners in McDowell and Kaymer in their side.
McDowell will be playing in his second Ryder Cup whilst US PGA winner Kaymer will make his debut in the competition.
But whilst McDowell has opted not to play in this week’s Vivendi Cup in France, he plans to put in some hard graft between now and October 1st.
“After talking about it for so long I can’t wait for the build-up to be over and get down to Wales and start playing,” said McDowell.
The Vivendi Cup starts on Thursday and Peter Hanson and Padraig Harrington will lead the European charge in the final tournament before the Ryder Cup starts on October 1st.
The USA team is 13/8 to retain the Ryder Cup. See the latest Ryder Cup golf betting market here.
