Graeme McDowell sank a 30-foot putt on the final hole of the Canadian Open on Sunday night to secure a spot at next month's Open Championship at his home course in Portrush.
McDowell required a top ten at the Canadian Open and also to be among the top three finishers not already qualified for The Open. His putt on the 18th ensured he placed eighth and achieved that target.
"I think I had reasonable belief in myself that I was going to be able to take care of it one of these weeks," the 39-year-old said about qualification for Portrush.
Obviously as the pressure started to build it was going to be more difficult as it went along.
Obviously very proud to have got one of the Open Championship spots and get that little monkey off my back and let me go and play some golf the next few weeks.
The putt which got him there was far from easy.
"The putt was not makable, no. It was literally a 1 and 10. It had 12 feet of break on it. It was ridiculously tough putt to make. Just fancied it, I saw it, liked the way it looked, and when I saw it go in it was a huge relief.
"Obviously at that point I still didn't know if I was guaranteed to be in, but I knew that 4 gave me more of a chance than 5."
Ticket punched! 🎫
Portrush native @Graeme_McDowell is headed to The Open after this putt on the 72nd hole @RBCCanadianOpen.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/ciuU5EYfjq— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 9, 2019
