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FAMOUS TENNIS PLAYER

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 9/26/2020 12:14:11 PM

Graeme McDowell

Graeme McDowell MBE (born 30 July 1979) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who plays on both the PGA Tour and European Tour. He is well known for winning the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he ended a 40-year drought for Europeans at the tournament. McDowell has won eleven events on the European Tour, and four on the PGA Tour. He has also represented Ireland at the World Cup and he has been a member of the European Ryder Cup team on four occasions. He has appeared in the top-10 in the Official World Golf Ranking and his best ranking position was 4th (January to March 2011). Early life McDowell was born in Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and played with Rathmore Golf Club since he was eight or nine years old. His uncle, Uel Loughery, coached him there when he was younger. At the age of 14, McDowell played senior cup for Rathmore. In his teens he attended Coleraine Academical Institution. He then studied engineering at Queen's University in Belfast, then transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he played college golf through the spring of 2002. As a senior with the Blazers in 2002, Mc- Dowell won six of twelve college events and the Haskins Award, given to the outstanding collegiate golfer in the United States. He was a member of the Great Britain and Ireland team which retained the Walker Cup in 2001 at Sea Island, Georgia. Professional career McDowell turned professional in 2002 and won that season's Volvo Scandinavian Masters, which was only his fourth start on the European Tour. That win led to McDowell being given honorary life membership at the Royal Portrush Golf Club. He did not win in his second season, but in 2004 he claimed the Telecom Italia Open and finished sixth on the European Tour's Order of Merit. In 2005, he divided his time between the European and U.S. PGA Tours. He was not yet a full member of the PGA Tour, but his top-50 placing in the Official World Golf Ranking ensured that he received invitations to play in many events in the United States. McDowell managed two top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, including a tie for second place at the Bay Hill Invitational, which enabled him to earn enough money to become fully exempt on the PGA Tour in 2006. He failed, however, to finish in the top-150 in the 2006 PGA Tour money list, and decided to return to the European Tour for 2007. In 2008 he returned to the winner's enclosure by winning first the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea.