McDowell Looks To Rally Ahead Of Defence

Last year's US open champion Graeme McDowell will need to see a significant improvement in his performance if he going to be in with a chance of defending his title next month. The Northern Irishman will head to the Congressional in Maryland next month in some worryingly poor form, recently missing three cuts from four events, including at the opening major of the year, last month's Masters. That poor form culminated in his shocking final round at last week's Players Championship at Sawgrass. Those looking at the golf US Open betting will be asking real questions about his ability to compete at the top level right now.

A stunning first three days saw the 31-year-old start the final day as the tournament leader. That lead vanished from the seventh hole onwards however, as McDowell's game went to pot on his way to a 79, which resulted in the Northern Irishman dropping down the leaderboard like a stone, finally settling way down in 33rd. The meltdown instantly drew comparisons to Rory McIlroy's disastrous final day at Augusta in the Masters. McDowell was rightly gutted with his last round display, admitting it was going to take some going time to get over his disappointment.

"[It was] One of my top 10 worst last rounds ever," he said.

"It's going to hurt a little bit, of course, but two weeks ago I was in pieces with my golf game. I found it a little bit this week."

G-Mac would do well to focus on the positives though, a return to form on the first three days saw him back in contention for a title. After such a worrying start to 2011, his impressive performances for the first part at Sawgrass will be something to build on for McDowell. That improved form is largely down to McDowell's coach Peter Cowen. The duo had an emergency meeting last weekend in Orlando, after the Ryder Cup star's shocking start to the season. That meeting seems to have done the trick though and the results were evident on the course, although the US Open odds still suggest he needs to do something special.

McDowell's swing showed definite signs of improvement, a smoother, more rhythmic look about it which put him in all the right areas, until the finalday that is. His work on the greens was also another area that had clearly been worked on and continuing to work with Cowen will be essential to McDowell's chances of proving last year's title was no fluke.