Graeme McDowell

Graeme McDowell (born 30 July 1979) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland. He has eleven tournament victories on the European Tour, and four on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. In 2022, he joined LIV Golf. McDowell has also represented Ireland at the World Cup and he has been a member of the European Ryder Cup team on four occasions. He has appeared in the top-10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, with a highest ranking position of 4th (January to March 2011).

McDowell was born in Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and played with Rathmore Golf Club since he was eight or nine years old. His uncle, Uel Loughery, coached him there when he was younger. At the age of 14, McDowell played senior cup for Rathmore. In his teens, he attended Coleraine Academical Institution.

McDowell studied engineering at Queen's University in Belfast, then transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he played college golf through the spring of 2002. As a senior with the Blazers in 2002, McDowell won six of twelve college events and the Haskins Award, given to the outstanding collegiate golfer in the United States. He was a member of the Great Britain and Ireland team which retained the Walker Cup in 2001 at Sea Island, Georgia.

McDowell turned professional in 2002, and won that season's Volvo Scandinavian Masters, which was only his fourth start on the European Tour. That win led to McDowell being given honorary life membership at the Royal Portrush Golf Club. He did not win in his second season, but in 2004 he claimed the Telecom Italia Open and finished sixth on the European Tour's Order of Merit. In 2005, he divided his time between the European and U.S. PGA Tours. McDowell was not yet a full member of the PGA Tour, but his top-50 placing in the Official World Golf Ranking ensured that he received invitations to play in many events in the United States.

McDowell managed two top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, including a tie for second place at the Bay Hill Invitational, which enabled him to earn enough money to become fully exempt on the PGA Tour in 2006. He failed, however, to finish in the top-150 in the 2006 PGA Tour money list, and decided to return to the European Tour for 2007. In 2008, McDowell returned to the winner's enclosure by winning first the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea, and then the Barclays Scottish Open. He played in the 2008 Ryder Cup, earning 2.5 points for the European team and finished the season ranked fifth on the Order of Merit.

In June 2010, McDowell won the Celtic Manor Wales Open by three shots. This was his fifth European win.

In June 2010, McDowell won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, becoming the first Northern Irishman to accomplish the feat, and the first European U.S. Open winner since Tony Jacklin in 1970. McDowell was also the first player from the United Kingdom to win a major championship since Paul Lawrie won The Open Championship in 1999, and the first Northern Irishman to win a major since Fred Daly won the 1947 Open Championship. McDowell was only the second European to win the U.S. Open since 1925. He rose to number 13 in the world rankings, then a career high, and became the eighth European in the top 15. McDowell embraced his father, Kenny, on Father's Day, and almost immediately called fellow golfer Rory McIlroy to joke about a possible partnership in the 2010 Ryder Cup. He celebrated with a large crowd, including fellow golfer Pádraig Harrington, in the United States.

There were celebrations in his native Portrush as well when news of McDowell's win broke, with "the mother of all parties" planned to get underway in the town. The "famous win" set off "a brand new life" for McDowell, according to The Guardian's golf correspondent, Lawrence Donegan. The Daily Telegraph's Mark Reason opined: "The previous three tournaments in the United States have been won by Lee Westwood, Justin Rose [both English] and now McDowell. It's an unprecedented surge and America must feel like it is being invaded". McDowell's manager, Conor Ridge, accepted bookings for American TV shows, such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, as well as a cameo role in Entourage. Shortly after winning the U.S. Open, McDowell joined the PGA Tour and earned a five-year exemption for winning a major.