McDowell has right answer

Graeme McDowell today told fellow Ulsterman Darren Clarke he would not be getting his putter back after a stunning victory in the Volvo Scandinavian Masters.

McDowell used the putter given to him a week ago by Clarke to single-putt 12 greens in his closing 67 at Kungsangen, in Stockholm.

It gave him a 14-under-par total of 270 and a one-shot victory in only his fourth European Tour event as a professional, not to mention the £200,000 first prize and a two-year Tour exemption.

Playing partner Trevor Immelman bogeyed the last to finish a shot behind, with former US PGA champion Jeff Sluman and Norwegian Henrik Bjornstad a shot further back. "I've never been happier," said McDowell. "To win in the fashion I did is an incredible feeling.

"I'm just so excited about what it means for me in the short term. I don't have to go to the qualifying school, I don't need any more invites and I've got somewhere to play for the next two years. If Darren asks for his putter back it will be a very definite 'no'.

"It's been one of those weeks," he added. "Things really seemed to go my way. I feel I have not really played well but my short game has been much sharper, that's been the difference."

McDowell won yesterday despite driving into a bunker at the 295-yard 15th and then shanking his second shot into the lake surrounding the green.

"I was in a state of shock, it all happened so quickly," he said. "I was going to drop the ball in the bunker but my caddie calmed me down and told me we could drop near where it had gone in the water."

From there McDowell got up and down to salvage a bogey and then held himself together superbly to birdie the next and get back on track.