REVIEW: McDowell holds nerve

Graeme McDowell strung together three straight birdies on the back nine to move towards a second win of the season and virtually assure himself a Ryder Cup debut in September.

The Northern Irishman captured the Barclays Scottish Open by two shots, to go with his victory at the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea, and is now in sixth spot on the Ryder Cup rankings – now ahead of Soren Hansen, Oliver Wilson, Henrik Stenson and Martin Kaymer.

Simon Khan actually led with seven holes to play but the Essex man doubled the 12th and 17th though a par at the last gave him the final spot in this week’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

McDowell will now move to Southport as one the more-fancied Europeans and he admitted that he now believes that his Ryder Cup dream is set to come true.

"I put the Ryder Cup up there with winning Majors. It's something I have really, really desperately wanted. I refused to be measured for my Ryder Cup clothes last week but maybe I will accept next time. It's never over till it's over of course but this is a massive step in the right direction.

"This is just unbelievable. It really was a tough weekend's golf with such a stacked field. It's a massive relief. It's one of the toughest finishes in European golf and I don't think I've ever shook as much as I was coming down the stretch. I've never had a two-shot lead coming down the last hole and I much prefer it to the stress and drama I normally put my mum and dad through and it's great to have them here.”

James Kingston eventually finished in second after shooting 67-66 over the weekend while Richard Green and Miguel Angel Jimenez warmed up nicely for the Open with a share of third.

Phil Mickelson tied for 38th after a closing 73 but he remains upbeat about his chances in the third Major of the year.

"I had a great week this week even though I didn't play the way I wanted to. I had a lot of fun. I got acclimatised to the time and I had three good days at Birkdale before this tournament started.

“This gives me an opportunity to look at some of the strengths that I had this week as well as the weaknesses, which were mostly in my short game. I can work on them in the next three days and see if I can get ready and put it all together for the Open.”