THE WAY THEY WERE: GRAEME McDOWELL AT BARASSIE 2000

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
In July 2000, my golf-reporting duties took me to the European youths team championship, hosted by the Scottish Golf Union at Kilmarnock Barassie.
That tournament for Under-21s is no more and the R and A Golfer’s Handbook does not carry the results for youths championships, having set the lead in scrapping the British youths championship a few years back.
I am relying on my memory when I say that England beat Scotland in the final which went to extra holes on the Saturday evening with Tom Whitehouse the English hero.
The England team was:
David Griffiths, Richard McEvoy, Phil Rowe, Tom Whitehouse, Zane Scotland and Jamie Elson.
The Scotland six were:
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GRAEME McDOWELL pictured (above) in 2011 and (below) in 2000 at Barassie.
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Lee Rhind, Marc Warren, Christopher Campbell, Barry Hume, Joel Hendry and Steven O’Hara.
But all these young men, full of high hopes of fame and fortune, have been eclipsed over the decade since then by a member of the Ireland team, who finished fifth behind Sweden, Italy, England and Scotland in the 36-hole stroke-play qualifying. Where they finished in the match-play stages, I cannot recall and not even Google can find that out for me.
That summer of 2000 the 20-year-old destined for stardom was Graeme McDowell, pictured above, from Portrush, Northern Ireland and, just for the record, his team-mates were Michael Hoey, David Jones, Justin Kehoe, Colm Moriarty and Michael McDermott.
Graeme was 29th best in the Barassie stroke-play with rounds of 74 and 71 for 145, a stroke behind two Italian brothers who were Ryder Cup team-mates last year – Francesco and Edoardo Molinari.
McDowell, at the time, was halfway through a four-year spell playing on the highly competitive American college circuit as a student at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Graeme was a good player in the making at Barassie in 2000 but he pinpoints the US experience as the catalyst in making him the world’s No 4 ranked professional he has become in 2011.
It should be stated that by the time he played at Barassie McDowell had already won the Irish men's amateur championship and the Irish open amateur youths title.
Winner of seven European Tour events … US Open champion last year … conqueror of Tiger Woods in late 2010 in the Chevron World Challenge.
McDowell has won close on 11 million Euros since he turned pro in 2002 when he completed his university course. And that's not counting the money he gets from companies such as Srixon whose clubs he has switched to this year.