KAEC, Saudi Arabia, Feb 1: Graeme McDowell has won just once since 2015, while his former Ryder Cup partner Victor Dubuisson of France has not won since 2015. On Sunday, they go against each other in the final round of the Saudi International at the Royal Greens Golf and Golf & Country Resort.
McDowell (66) at 12-under and Dubuisson (65) at 11-under will play together, just as they did at the Ryder Cup in 2014. That time, McDowell, a veteran of three Ryder Cup teams, was asked to mentor rookie Dubuisson. Then, they were both trying to help each other win for Europe, but this time, they will be trying to win, something that has become difficult for both.
Both brought back old memories and Dubuisson added to it, revealing that he was once again playing with an old set of clubs he had put away long back, but brought out only recently.
India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar could not find any putts on the greens and finished with one-over 71 and was Tied-68th.
Asian Tour No. 1 Gavin Green (70) slipped to third at 9-under, one shot ahead of Dustin Johnson (68), Renato Paratore (70) and Victor Perez (73). In the fourth and final round Green will play with defending champion Dustin Johnson, one group behind the leaders, McDowell and Dubuisson.
On Saturday, the moving day, when the conditions were most testing, McDowell was on fire on the back nine with 4-under 66 that included three birdies in a row from 12thto 14thand another on 18thto get to 12-under 198.
Dubuisson confessed he would have been happy with one or two-under for the day in such windy conditions, came in with a 5-under 65 for second straight day to reach 11-under.
McDowell summed up the final round camaraderie saying, “We shared a car up to the course this morning and I was chatting with him and I always look out for him, great experiences with him in 2014 at Gleneagles. He’s such a great guy, he hasn’t had the best form the last few years and I’m really, really happy to see him at the top of the leaderboard and looking forward to being with him tomorrow. It’s going to be tough to try and play tough against him, but we’re both competitors and we’ll go out there and try and do our job.”
McDowell last won at the 2019 Corales Puntacana Resort, an event held in Dominican Republic in the week of the WGC-Dell Matchplay to end a four-year title drought.
McDowell and Dubuisson have so much intertwined that they will have a lot to catch up on Sunday, besides playing golf for thee Saudi International title.
Before his last win in Dominican, held against the WGC-Dell Matchplay, McDowell won in Mayakoba, Mexico on PGA Tour in 2015. The Northern Ireland golfer’s win at Mayakoba came two weeks after Dubuisson won the second and last of his two Turkish Open titles, his only wins on European Tour. McDowell’s last European Tour win came in Dubuisson’s country, France.
The Frenchman’s best since late 2017 has been a sole Top-10 at the Hero Indian Open in 2019. “I love thee Hero Indian Open and the course (Gary Player course at DLF). It is very tough and demanding and I like it, I will go back there again,” he said.
Malaysia’s Gavin Green playing with college roommate, Victor Perez, admittedly struggled at time in difficult and windy conditions for a even par 70 round, that looked way better at two-under till he bogeyed 14 and 15. Green was where he started at 9-under.
Perez, like Green birdied the first and added another on second to forge ahead. Then he dropped a double on third, and struggled a lot through the rest of the round, except for birdies on 10thand 18th. He bogeyed 12th, 13thand 17thand in between double bogeyed 16thfor a day’s work of 73 that saw him drop to Tied-fourth with Renato Paratore (70) and Dustin Johnson (68) at seven-under.
Read also:
College roommates Perez and Green 1-2; Bhullar survives cut; Sharma misses
Sharma battles the wind to shoot 68, lies 21st, Green leads in Saudi
Gavin to the fore at the Royal Greens in Saudi International
