McDOWELL PLUMMETS WITH AN 81 IN SAAB WELSH OPEN

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Alex Noren birdied the final hole to retain his one shot lead with a round to play at the Saab Wales Open.

The Swede carded a level par 71 to remain eight under par, with his compatriot Peter Hanson and Dane Anders Hansen on seven under.

Former Omega European Masters champion Noren had something of a rollercoaster ride in the windy conditions, Hansen a superlative 66 - but Graeme McDowell tumbled from second place overnight to 33rd with an 81.
SCROLL DOWN PAST THE SCOREBOARD TO THE STORY OF McDOWELL'S MELTDOWN.

Noren looked as if he might tumble off the leaderboard as well when he three-putted the fourth and sixth and then took six at the long ninth after a wild drive led to a penalty drop.

“I thought it was so much tougher than yesterday, especially around the greens,” he said. “It was the same direction as off the tees and into the greens, you kind of just had to add and take off the stronger wind.

“But on the greens, some putts played really slow and some played really fast, and I had a little bit of trouble getting the pace right. So it's a bit more of a struggle than yesterday.”

But the 28 year old came back with three birdies in four holes from the 11th.

That enabled him to grab the lead back from Hansen, who from two over after three holes went crazy with six birdies and then a near-albatross at the downwind 575 yard last.

Needing only a seven iron for his second shot he could not believe that it finished three inches behind the hole.

"I've never had albatross, but I'm happy with eagle," he said.

“I hit a lot of good golf shots and seemed to take advantage of the chances that I did have. When I didn't have chances, I sort of tried to keep the ball in play. And I did make three bogeys, so it's a tough day out there.”

Hanson, who made his Ryder Cup debut at the course last year, started with two bogeys, but played the last 16 in five under to boost his chances of a fifth European Tour win.

“I've been happy the way I've been playing,” he said. “Struggling a bit off the tee the first two rounds, and today I felt I hit it much better and iron play was good.

“Especially today when it was windy, I scrambled very well and made some really good putts, like the one on the last.”

Welshman Jamie Donaldson is two behind in fourth place as he seeks not only to become the first home winner, but also grab his first European Tour victory in well over 200 starts.

“I put myself in a good position,” he said. “It was nice to finish like that - I needed to finish like that to give myself a chance, and we did finish well. Here we are in a good, strong position.”

SCOTSWATCH

Banchory tour pro Greig Hutcheon, playing in the event because he won the Tartan Tour Order of Merit last year and also the PGA Play-offs, has always said that he felt if he could get a toehold on the European Tour, he would be able to hold his own.
His performance at Celtic Manor would seem to back up that sentiment because he is one one-under par 212 after a 69, sharing 19th place with compatriot Elliot Saltman who also had a 69.
Peter Whiteford slipped a bit with a 73 for 213 but he is just outside the top 20, joint 22nd to be precise.
David Drysdale cannot seem to string three or four good rounds together this season. After opening rounds of 71, this looked like being the tournament where he would end his slumps but a 75 for 217 knocked him back to a share of 38th position.


THIRD-ROUND LEADERBOARD

Par 213 (3x71)

205 Alexander Noren (Sweden) 67 67 71.

206 Anders Hansen (Denmark) 70 70 66, Peter Hanson (Sweden) 65 72 69.

207 Jamie Donaldson (Wales) 68 68 71.

208 Steve Webster (England) 66 72 70, Victor Dubuisson (France) 67 69 72.

209 Johan Edfors (Sweden) 68 71 70.

SCOTS' SCORES

212 Greig Hutcheon 72 72 69, Elliot Saltman 73 70 69 (T19).

213 Peter Whiteford 70 70 73 (T22).

217 David Drysdale 71 71 75 (T38).

Another McDowell meltdown with an 81 at Celtic Manor

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE

Less than two weeks away from his defence of the US Open title Graeme McDowell suffered the potentially devastating shock of an 81 - the joint worst round of his entire European Tour career - at Celtic Manor today.

On the course where he was not only Europe's Ryder Cup hero last October, but also Wales Open champion five months earlier, the world number five crashed from one off the lead to an incredible 11 strokes adrift.

Swede Alex Noren still leads after a rollercoaster ride of a 71 in the windy conditions - compatriot Peter Hanson and Dane Anders Hansen are one behind, Hansen after a superlative 66 - but the story of the day was inevitably McDowell's tumble from second place overnight to 33rd.

And this less than a month since he collapsed from first to 33rd with a closing 79 at the Players Championship in Florida.

It could have been even more of a meltdown, though. He thought he might get a two-shot penalty for tapping down the ground as a chip came back to him on the 12th, but he escaped that because it was done in anger rather than with the intention to improve his lie.

"Obviously I'm very disappointed," said McDowell. "I got off to a start where everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

"I just couldn't get anything going. It was the most crazy seven holes I've had in a long time - my head was spinning.
"I feel I got heavily punished for some mediocre golf, not disastrously bad golf.
"After the 11th (a bogey 6 on a reachable-in-two par- five) I completely lost my patience and at 12 (a quadruple bogey 8) I just lost my head. That was me gone.
"Until then, I felt like I was in control of my game, but I very swiftly got out of control.
"I've made more double bogeys and triple bogeys this season than ever and I need to address that and understand why that is. It kind of broke my heart a little bit.
"Tomorrow I'll try to shoot a 66 or 67, then lick my wounds and get ready for Congressional. But there are some mental areas that I've got to address."
McDowell's previous worst rounds on the European circuit were 81s at Valderrama in 2002 - his rookie season - and at Pinehurst in the 2005 US Open.
He was far from the only one to suffer - Darren Clarke shot 80, Thomas Levet and Stuart Manley 81, Paul Broadhurst and Jason Knutzon 84 - but he was certainly the most notable.
It was simply hard to believe at the venue where he finished 64-63 last May to turn a six-stroke deficit into a three-shot victory.
Television commentator Wayne Riley had only to witness a few holes to comment: "Welcome to the torture chamber".
Battling with a hook, the Northern Irishman was in two bunkers for an opening double bogey, dropped more shots at the second and fourth, then went from a rough into a ditch at the 433yd fifth.
He then hooked out of bounds on the short seventh for a third double bogey and after repairing some of the damage with birdies at the eighth and ninth came to grief again.
His second shot to the 11th with a fairway wood kicked into the water and after his 6 there his 8 came when two chips from just off the next green rolled back to his feet and he then three-putted.
At least he played the last six in one under, two-putting the par five last for birdie.