62 on The Old Course

I witnessed Tiger Woods blow the field away at The Open Championship in 2000. I also thought Ernie Els was a masterful player of The Old Course in the old team version of The Dunhill Cup. But the most impressive performance I have seen in the flesh was Graeme McDowell's demolition of St Andrews during the opening round of The Dunhill Links Championship in 2004.

Every year, Jose Maria Olazabal's crisp iron play always stands out above all others on the range. But Graeme's ball-striking that Thursday morning was right up there. Unlike many players that have developed their game on a links course with a low penetrating trajectory, McDowell is just as equally blessed when it comes to delivering a high ball flight. It might not sound like a deadly weapon when the wind's up, but on a reasonably calm day with front pins, it's a pre-requisite for going low.

He got off to a smart start, taking things easy through the first four holes to be one-under. I always think these opening holes can catch you cold, and if you can perhaps pick one up on the first or third - then that's a bonus. Graeme did just that with a tidy birdie on No.3.

For a top professional like McDowell, six through twelve is like being a kid in a candy store. Birdies and even eagles are there for the taking, but you have to complement this attacking play with an equal measure of mental patience. Hitting one of the many pot bunkers at any of these holes can easily see you making a mess of a clean scorecard. But Graeme managed to avoid the sand, birdieing five, six and seven, and picked up the customary three at the ninth. In 2004, it was only playing 352 yards, so any of these guys hitting their driver relatively straight were pretty much guaranteed a birdie.

Being five-under through nine is an excellent start, but it's been done many times before. Jarmo Sandelin once turned in 27. It's the back nine here that decides your fate. Not only is it a much tougher stretch of holes but the wind tends to be into and off the right, as it was on this occasion. What impressed me most about this particular round was that it would've been simple for Graeme to sit back and coast in with a 67 and put himself in the mix. But he knew he was hitting the ball beautifully and holing out superbly from inside ten feet, so he continued to attack. He shaved the hole at ten to remain at -5, but his mindset was made apparent on the 11th. The pin was cut just four paces over Strath bunker, one of the most dangerous on the course. Behind the tee I watched Graeme line up his shot and couldn't believe to see him set up straight at the pin. It's an easy shot for a professional to hit the middle of the green here and leave a putt of thirty feet or so. It looked like a six-iron, and it set off like a bullet. One of those shots that doesn't deviate an inch. "Go...go...go was the shout from his caddie", but it was never in any doubt. It cleared the bunker and sat down a few feet from the hole. The sixth birdie of the round took him to the top of the leaderboard.

Twelve is another one of those reachable holes on The Old Course that is totally dependent on the quality of the drive. After yet another good swing, Graeme marched to seven under for the round. But this is where things got interesting. Thirteen is a tough par 4, that doesn't tend to yield too many birdies. A towering iron shot left him a relatively simple putt on the flat part of the green and the clenched fist was once again on view as he reached down to pick his ball from hole.

Fourteen, a 581 yard par 5 was a mere formality. Graeme is deceptively long off the tee, and like many of the bigger hitters he can turn these five's into four's. Long putting is of course very important at St Andrews, but look at a sample of the names on The Claret Jug when it's been played here - Nicklaus, Daly, Woods. Having length off the tee here often helps to take out some of the trouble, which many of the shorter players have to plot their way around.

I wouldn't be surprised if thoughts of 59 were running through his head at this point, but pars on 15 and 16 extinguished those dreams if they did indeed exist. However, his approach on 17 was incredible. As usual the pin was located behind the Road Hole bunker. There's a little room for error short and right, but from the fairway the green is a very thin looking target. For the amateur it's often too much to turn down, but Graeme went for this pin knowing he was in complete control of his game. A crisp seven iron, with a beautiful soft draw landed pin high and rolled left towards the hole. The guests in the hospitality tent directly behind the green finally had a reason to look away from the complimentary bar. When the putt dropped in the centre of the cup the gallery were in raptures, and McDowell walked to the 18th tee an incredible ten under par. An uphill putt from around ten feet at the last would've given him the course record outright, but it slid agonisingly past and he had to settle for a 62. "While I was out there it almost felt like blasphemy doing this at St Andrews", he later commented to the media.

After a quick start, it has taken him a couple of years to find his feet on tour, but his win at Loch Lomond and his outstanding play at the Ryder Cup have shown that he has the game to take on anyone and win anywhere. Could we see this Ulsterman picking up The Claret Jug at St Andrews this year? Who knows - he could even roll into The Auld Grey Toon wearing a green jacket...