Graeme McDowell In The Bag: French Open Winning Clubs

Graeme McDowell clinched his third win of 2013 as he shot a closing 67 to finish four ahead of South African Richard Sterne at the French Open.

McDowell and Sterne battled for most of the final round, but the Northern Irishman was stronger over the closing holes as the South African faded.

The victory earns McDowell more than £430,000 and moves him into second place in the Race to Dubai standings, behind US Open Champion Justin Rose.

England’s Graeme Storm and Spain’s Eduardo De La Riva shared third place, five shots back from McDowell.

McDowell has had a strange run of events this year, having won the Heritage event on the PGA Tour in April and the World Match Play Championship in Bulgaria a month later, before missing cuts in five of his last six stroke-play events before the French Open, including the US Open and last week’s Irish Open.

The Northern Irishman moved ahead on Sunday with an early birdie, but Sterne responded with a birdie of his own at the 3rd and then took the lead after McDowell dropped a stroke at the 7th.

However, McDowell drew level after picking up another stroke at the 10th and he moved ahead at the 12th after Sterne took five after missing the fairway.

McDowell extended his lead when Sterne bogeyed the short 16th and his par putt miraculously fell in off the lip. The Ryder Cup star then increased his advantage with a magnificent approach at the tough par-4 17th yielded another birdie, with Sterne dropping another shot after a missed short putt.

The 33-year-old described his victory at the 2018 Ryder Cup venue as “special”. “It’s been a funny year because my game hasn’t felt far away most weeks,” added McDowell. “But I’ve missed a lot of cuts and missing cuts hurts. That has certainly motivated me a lot these last few weeks.”

Behind McDowell, Ian Poulter finished on two-over-par after a final round of 73, while Luke Donald’s week ended with a 75 to finish at six-over.

Below are the clubs that McDowell used to win in France: 

Driver: Cleveland Classic 290 (9-degree; 46-inch Miyazaki Kusala Indigo 56 X-Flex)
Fairway wood: Cleveland Launcher FL (14-degree; Miyazaki Kusala Indigo 72 X-Flex)
Hybrid: Adams Idea a7 PNT (22-degree; Miyazaki Kusala Indigo 83 X-Flex)
Irons: Cleveland 588 MT (3-4) and Srixon Z-TX II (5-9) (all Royal Precision Project X 6.5)
Wedges: Cleveland 588 Raw 48 and 52, and Cleveland 588 RTX 58 (all Royal Precision Project X 6.5)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot #7 prototype mallet
Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV
Shoes: Ecco World Class GTX