Should Ryder Cup Captain candidate Graeme McDowell be eyeing a team spot after sizzling start at Bay Hill?
Should Graeme McDowell target a playing role at The Ryder Cup? (Niall Carson/PA)
Talk of the Ryder Cup captaincy was sure to be firmly in Graeme McDowell's mind (particularly being partnered with recent USA Captain Zach Johnson), but, should his attention really be turning to a team Ryder Cup spot, following a fantastic opening 68 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The 42-year-old was previously vice-captain under Thomas Bjorn when Europe defeated the United States in Paris in 2018, and was also part of Padraig Harrington's unsuccessful backroom team at Whistling Straits last year.
McDowell is rumoured to be the leading candidate to succeed Harrington to go up against a Zach Johnson-led USA next year in Rome. However, he was quick to re-focus attention on a team spot, rather than captaincy at this point in his career. After his round today, why not?
"I just don't think I'm quite ready,” he told reporters.
“If I’m out here doing what I’m doing, I have to say there’s not 12 guys better than me, and I’m good enough to make the team.”
"I kind of have to put my own individual career first, I feel like," he said. "I desperately want to get back playing consistently well at a high level again rather than maybe taking my attention away and taking the Ryder Cup captaincy.
“Maybe part of me would be suggesting that I'm not good enough to make the team. Are there 12 better players than me in Europe right now? I've got to ask myself that question. If I'm out here doing what I'm doing, I have to say there's not 12 guys better than me, and I'm good enough to make the team.”
Fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy started fast, and currently leads (at the time of writing) with an opening 65, while the likes of Beau Hossler, J.J Spaun, Billy Horschel and Will Zalatoris are among the chasing pack.
Follow the headlines from the Arnold Palmer Invitational on The Cut Stuff.
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