McDowell breathes out — and produces breath-taking putting show

Graeme McDowell speaks to the Golf Channel after his third round 64

Graeme McDowell knows he can't take the foot off the gas now despite taking just 20 putts en route to back-to-back 64's and a one-stroke lead at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.

The former US Open champion (39) is seeking his first win since he claimed the OHL Classic at Mayakoba at the end of 2015 and hoping that he can finish the job and take a giant step back to where he believes he still belongs.

The secret to his success yesterday was an otherworldly performance with the putter — a PGA Tour career-best 20-putt round featuring 15 single-putt greens in a row to start a ten-birdie day.

"Something small's kind of clicked, something I used to do really well years ago," said McDowell, who leads by one stroke from Chris Stroud on 15-under par with Sungjae Im, who must win to qualify for the Masters, tied for third with Aaron Baddeley on 13-under.

"I became not so good at it and I've tried, I've been practising. It's just a breathing thing and it really clicked with me last week a little bit and it's been working really well on the greens again this week. It's helping me relax and it's helping me just stand there and hit nice putts.

"Just before I take the putter head away, just a little bit of an out-breath to relax. It's something I used to do very well way back when and it's amazing how you instinctively get good at things and then you stop being good at things as well. That's cleaned my routines well up on the greens.

"But like I said, scoring is still hot here. You've got to keep your foot on the pedal and I've got to come back out here tomorrow and try to make some more birdies.

"So 15 one-putts in a row out there to start my day was something I'm not sure I've ever done before, but kind of cool. Twenty putts total out there with no chip-ins is pretty steady."

While he's had ten top-10 finishes since he won that playoff over Jason Bohn and Russell Knox in Mexico three years and four months ago, the former world number four has also missed 31 cuts and lost full playing privileges on the PGA Tour, falling as low as 262nd in the world earlier this year — his worst world ranking for 15 years.

It's been a chastening experience for one of the most positive thinkers in the game. But he's been saying for a while that the game is close and buoyed by a bogey-free 64 on Friday, he repeated the trick yesterday and knows he must try to finish the job having failed to make the final step in recent years.

"You know, listen, this is just a continuation of the journey really," said McDowell. "I mean, I haven't achieved anything yet. I've got to go back out here tomorrow and try and play well.

"My caddie keeps saying to me that at some point I'm going to get tired of messing it up. So I'm enjoying being out there and being in contention. I like this golf course, I like the idea of being able to be patient out there because you always know there's lots of chances ahead of you on this golf course.

"Like I said, the way I'm putting, I feel like it's easy to stay very, very patient even with a couple of mistakes I made on the front nine this morning."

Greystones' Paul Dunne is tied for fifth, just four strokes behind after a 69 and still chasing, not only a top 10 and a spot in next week's Valero Texas Open but a maiden PGA Tour win.

Seamus Power is tied 53rd on four-under after a third round 72 but Irish eyes are focussed on Dunne and McDowell, whose haul of just 20 putts shaved a shot off his previous record of 21 putts in the 2014 FedEx St Jude Classic.

As for single putting the first 15 greens, he added: "I think after I knocked the one in on 12, I said to [caddie] Kenny [Comboy], 'Is that 12 one-putts in a row?' To be honest with you, I was standing over those three-footers on 14 and 15, I was more nervous about the three-footers that I didn't want to spoil my round of putts.

"I hit a great shot into 16, I hit a really good putt there and my run came to an end. But it was a fun day. Listen, I hit a lot of great shots and made some putts as we talked about. I'm going to have to keep doing that tomorrow if I want to try and win."

It's no wonder McDowell likes the Paspalum surfaces in the Dominican Republic, which are similar to those he sees regularly in the Bahamas, where he owns a second home.

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