After a 2014-15 season in which he considered walking away from professional golf, Graeme McDowell knew he couldn’t rest on his laurels with the turn of the PGA Tour calendar. He chose to eschew the European Tour’s version of the FedEx Cup playoffs and compete in some of the fall events on the PGA Tour’s wraparound schedule, looking to get a jump start on maintaining his now-expired exemption from winning the 2010 U.S. Open.
The gambit paid off, with McDowell winning the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in November, securing a two-year exemption and critical world-ranking points.
Now with his PGA Tour status secure, McDowell said Wednesday in Dubai that he can pivot back to the European Tour and pursuit of a spot on the 2016 European Ryder Cup team, as well the 2016 Irish Olympic golf team.
McDowell has been on the Ryder Cup team in each of the last four matches, and he can make Darren Clarke’s squad either based on world ranking or European Tour points. It sounds like he’ll look to play a normal schedule, mixing time between the U.S. and Europe, with the hope of improving his ranking and getting on the team.
As for the Olympics, McDowell lags behind not only Rory McIlroy, but also Shane Lowry, whose career 2015 has him 24th in the world. McDowell is 69th. There’s work to do for McDowell to make the team.
“I’m just trying to keep my head down and try to play the schedule the next six months and play as well as I can and cross the Olympic bridge when we come to it I suppose,” McDowell said ahead of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
Perhaps on equal footing for McDowell is making the Tour Championship. He’s never waded his way through the entirety of the PGA Tour playoffs and now, with life stabilized, he’s prioritizing that long-term goal.
“I kind of got married in the middle of the playoffs, had a baby in the middle of the playoffs, just life stuff been happening,” he said, “and I just feel like getting to Atlanta was really a big goal, finishing off last year and coming into 2016.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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