In the Bag: Graeme McDowell
Open de France victory marks third win of 2013 for Northern Irishman
Graeme McDowell clinched his third title of the season with a commanding victory at the Open de France.
The Cleveland/Srixon staffer, who triumphed at The Heritage and Volvo World Matchplay earlier in the year, held off South African Richard Sterne to win by four shots at Le Golf National.
McDowell, who despite the fast start to 2013 had missed five of his last six cuts in strokeplay events, claimed a first prize of €500,000 taking him less than €30,000 behind Justin Rose at the top of The Race to Dubai.
The 33-year-old Ulsterman 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," said McDowell, who closed with a superb 4-under 67.
"But I've missed a lot of cuts and missing cuts hurts. That has certainly motivated me a lot these last few weeks."
Despite landing a hat-trick of wins this season, this title marks McDowell's first strokeplay win on the European Tour since the 2010 Andalucia Masters.
The win should also lift the former US Open champion from ninth to sixth when the official world rankings are updated on Monday, with The Open Championship at Muirfield just around the corner.
McDowell trusted the Cleveland Classic driver, Launcher FL fairway, 588 MT and Srixon Z-TX II irons, 588 regular and RTX wedges and Srixon Z-Star XV ball. He also sported ECCO World Class GTX footwear.
Final Leaderboard
-9 G McDowell (NI)
-5 R Sterne (RSA)
-4 E De La Riva (Spa), G Storm (Eng)
What's in McDowell's bag
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-iron), Cleveland 588 TT (4-iron), Srixon Z-TX II (5-9; Royal Precision Project X 6.5)
Wedges: Cleveland Reg 588 Precision Forged (48-degree; Royal Precision Project X 6.5), Cleveland 588 RTX (52- and 58-degree; Royal Precision Project X 6.5)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot #7 prototype mallet
Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV
Footwear: Ecco World Class GTX
