Graeme McDowell put a tough couple of months behind him when returning to form to win the Alstom Open de France.
McDowell had missed the cut in five of his last six stroke-play events, including the US Open and Irish Open, but all that was forgotten as he carded a final-round score of 67 to finish on -9 at Le Golf National.
South African Richard Sterne had pushed McDowell all the way before picking up bogeys at the 16th and 17th to finish four shots behind, while England’s Graeme Storm and Spain’s Eduardo De La Riva shared third place.
McDowell was relieved to pick up the win that should lift him from ninth to sixth when the world rankings are updated.
“It’s very special after the last couple of months,” McDowell admitted.
“It’s been a bit of a battle. It’s been a funny year. My game has not felt far away most weeks but I have missed a lot more cuts than normal and missing cuts hurts.
“It certainly motivated me a lot the last few weeks. The US Open was a tough one to take and missing the cut in Ireland last week; it made me more hungry to want to be in positions like I was this afternoon.”
The victory was McDowell’s third of the season, adding to the Heritage event on the PGA Tour in April before he followed that up with a win at the World Match Play Championship in Bulgaria a month later.
The return to form could not come at a better time for McDowell with the Open Championship at Muirfield coming up later this month.
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